UC-NRLF 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


ScHEYICHBI    AND    THE    SlRAND, 


OR 


EARLY  DAYS  ALONG  THE  DELAWARE. 


WITH 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  RECENT  EVENTS  AT  SEA  GROVE. 


CONTAINING 

SKETCHES  OF  THE  ROMANTIC  ADVENTURES  OF  THE  PIONEER  COLONISTS;  THE  WON 

DERFUL  ORIGIN  OF  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  AND  CIVILIZATION;  THE  REMARKABLE 

COURSE  OF  POLITICAL   PROGRESS  AND   MATERIAL  IMPROVEMENT   IN  THE 

UNITED  STATES,  AS  SHOWN  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  NEW  JERSEY,  WITH  \ 

PROOF  OF  THE  SAFETY  AND  BENEFIT  OF  DEMOCRATIC  INSTITU 

TIONS,  AND  THE  NECESSITY  OF  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM. 

•V 


TO    WHICH    IS    APPENDED    A    GEOLOGICAL    DESCRIPTION    OF   THE 
SHORE    OF    NEW   JERSEY. 


BY 

EDWARD    S.   WHEELER. 


ILLUSTRATED    WITH    TWELVE    FULL-PAGE    ENGRAVINGS,    FROM    ORIGINAL 
DRAWINGS    BY    D.  B.  GULICK,  CHARLES   W.  KNAPP,  AND    OTHERS. 


PRESS   OF  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT   &   CO. 

PHILADELPHIA: 

1876. 


Copyright,  1876,  by  EDWARD  S.  WHEELER. 


7737 


DEDICATION. 


TO   MY  CHRISTIAN   FRIENDS. 

who,  firm  in  the  faith  themselves,  can  nevertheless  respect  the  convictions  of 
others ;  to  earnest  Christians  whose  spiritual  trust  and  faith  is  so  perfect, 
they  have  no  fear  any  fact  can  disprove  truth,  or  human  error  annul 
the  divine  law  ;  to  Christians  whose  character  honors  their  creed, 
whose  fairness  and  honesty  command  regard,  while  their 
kindness   and   courtesy   inspire   fraternal   love;   to   all 
who  love  truth  better  than  their  own  conceit;  to  all 
who  reverence  God  more  than  any  theory ;  to  all 
who  seek  the  good,  the  true,  and  beautiful 
themselves,  and  devoutly  labor  for  the 
welfare  and  eternal  happiness  of  hu 
manity,  I  dedicate  this  volume. 


P  R  F  F  A  f  R 


ERRATA   AND    CORRIGENDA. 

On  page  5,  26th  line,  for  "its  citizens  discovered"  read  :  their  citizens 
discovered. 

On  page  8,  32d  line,  for  "the  discoveries"  read  :   the  discoverers. 

On  page  16,  28th  line,  for  "Peterzen"  read:   Pieterzen. 

On  page  19,  4th  line,  for  "  catalogue"  read  :   catalogues. 

On  page  55,  3oth  line,  for  "home  and  asylum  of  those  who  had  deprived 
him  of  liberty  and  life"  read  :  asylum  of  those  who  had  deprived  his  people 
of  liberty  and  life. 

On  page  63,  42d  line,  for  "  1852"  read  :    1822. 

On  page  107,  nth  line,  for  "seventeen"  read:  seven. 


is  deserved  by  all  herein  published. 

But  whatever  discrepancies  may  mar  the  printed  pages,  there  is  no 
occasion  to  criticise  the  illustrations  for  misrepresentation.  They  are 
mostly  drawn  from  photographic  views,  taken  on  the  spot,  with  micro 
scopic  fidelity,  by  artistic  operators,  and  have  been  faithfully  repro 
duced  by  the  draughtsman  and  engraver.  They  may,  therefore,  be 
looked  upon  as  giving  a  correct  idea  of  the  physical  features  of  the 


PREFACE. 


EVERY  work  should  be  justified  by  its  usefulness  and  recommended 
by  the  manner  of  its  performance. 

Criticism  of  literary  style  is  averted  from  this  little  book,  since  nice 
elaboration  of  details,  and  smooth,  consistent  unity  of  parts,  with  a 
high  degree  of  literary  finish,  are  impossible  in  a  volume  made  diverse 
by  the  requirements  of  its  purpose  and  desultory  by  needful  brevity. 
I  have  been  disinterested  in  that  of  which  I  have  written,  and  left 
entirely  free  to  follow  my  own  taste  and  judgment  in  regard  to  matter 
and  manner,  being  bound  in  agreement  with  those  concerned  only  that 
I  should  serve  their  purpose  by  "  truthful  representations"  alone. 

Thus  directed  and  encouraged  in  pursuing  the  course  congenial  to 
my  feelings  and  conscience,  I  have  tried  to  present  only  the  facts  of 
science  and  the  truth  of  history,  knowing  them  to  be  stranger  than 
fiction,  and  in  simple  statement  more  wonderful  and  interesting  than 
the  most  remarkable  works  of  imagination. 

Although  an  observer  of  the  things  I  have  described  so  far  as  they 
exist  in  the  present,  it  would  be  absurd  to  put  forward  any  claim  to 
original  discovery.  I  have  gathered  from  many  sources,  but  think  a 
display  of  authorities  would  be  out  of  place  ;  yet,  it  is  true,  I  have  been 
more  inquisitive  than  the  result  may  indicate.  Errors  are  possible, 
even  when  care  is  taken  to  be  accurate,  and  mistakes  are  not  at  all 
inconsistent  with  an  honest  purpose;  still,  if  misrepresentations  exist 
in  this  work  they  are  unknown,  and  as  the  motive  has  been  consci 
entious,  and  the  effort  earnest,  I  believe  the  consideration  due  reliability 
is  deserved  by  all  herein  published. 

But  whatever  discrepancies  may  mar  the  printed  pages,  there  is  no 
occasion  to  criticise  the  illustrations  for  misrepresentation.  They  are 
mostly  drawn  from  photographic  views,  taken  on  the  spot,  with  micro 
scopic  fidelity,  by  artistic  operators,  and  have  been  faithfully  repro 
duced  by  the  draughtsman  and  engraver.  They  may,  therefore,  be 
looked  upon  as  giving  a  correct  idea  of  the  physical  features  of  the 


vi  PREFACE. 

beautiful  locality  in  which  they  were  taken,  and  the  varied  structures 
which  utilize  and  decorate  the  neighborhood. 

Whoever  has  loitered  along  the  shore  of  the  summer  sea,  seeking 
rest  and  recreation  therefrom,  has,  when  feeling  his  soul  stirred  by  the 
grandeur  and  loveliness  of  the  scene,  longed  for  some  magic  art  which 
could  fix  forever  the  transient  glories  of  evanescent  beauty  in  his  mind, 
making  his  memory  thus  the  picture-gallery  of  nature. 

This  may  not  be,  but  somewhat  has  been  done  to  recall  the  features 
of  the  seascape  where,  in  the  bygone  summer,  so  many  earnest,  Chris 
tian  souls  "  took  sweet  counsel  together,"  amid  the  healing  breezes  and 
peaceful  surroundings  of  the  consecrated  Sea  Grove. 

Neither  the  artist's  pencil  nor  the  photographer's  skill  can  reproduce 
all  that  presented  itself  before  the  delighted  vision.  No  art  can  imitate 
the  tenderness  of  the  dawn  across  the  sea,  or  do  justice  to  the  resplen 
dence  with  which  the  sun  sank  among  the  western  waves  on  quiet 
Sabbath  evenings  ;  but  all  this  may  be  suggested  to  the  sense,  and  with 
many  memory  will  fill  the  picture  with  colors  true  to  nature,  and  even 
recall  the  friends  who  shared  their  summer  vacation. 

Again,  as  they  look  upon  the  pictures  of  our  unpretending  book, 
they  will  hear  in  memory  the  voice  of  exhortation  and  the  music  oi 
praise,  mingling  with  the  undertone  of  the  unceasing  surges.  Again 
they  will  enter  the  broad  pavilion,  and,  pausing  but  to  offer  a  word  of 
prayer  for  all  who  share  not  in  their  religious  blessings,  bow  the  soul 
in  devotion  to  partake  of  the  union  communion  service  with  their 
numerous  friends  of  many  churches. 

To  awaken  such  reminiscences  in  those  who  know  Sea  Grove  and 
its  associations  by  residence  there,  and  to  increase  their  interest  and 
pleasure  in  the  place  by  bringing  before  them  many  facts  pertaining  to 
their  favorite  resort,  is  the  purpose  of  this  book  ;  besides,  it  is  requisite 
that  all  who  need  the  sea-side  privileges  of  rest  and  cheerful  recreation 
should  be  informed  where  they  can  secure  them  at  their  convenience, 
reasonably,  without  annoying  contact  with  demoralizing  dissipations, 
as  distasteful  to  the  thoughtful  as  they  are  wearisome  and  hurtful  to 
the  invalid,  and  physically  and  spiritually  unprofitable  to  all. 

Trusting  that  these  ends  may  be  fully  served  to  the  common  benefit, 
and  that  something  of  instruction  and  refined  gratification  may  be 
incidental  thereto,  the  author  with  pleasure  presents  his  work  to  an  en 
lightened  public. 


SCHEYICHBI  AND  THE  STRAND. 


HISTORY  evinces  the  exceeding  potency  of  religious  ideas,  as  a  cause 
of  material  progress;  as  the  phenomena  of  Nature  manifest  the  power 
of  the  Infinite  Spirit. 

Curiosity,  avarice,  and  ambition  induce  exploration  and  discovery; 
stimulate  enterprise;  found  and  foster  states;  but  fanaticism,  faith,  and 
spiritual  convictions  are  the  world's  pioneers ;  these  move  more  pro 
foundly  the  passions  of  mankind,  quicken  higher  and  intenser  energies, 
and  develop  more  sublime  results. 

Fanaticism,  the  fungi  of  religious  growth,  provokes  the  bigot  to 
draw  the  sword  of  exterminating  conquest,  changing  the  character  and 
boundaries  of  nations ;  the  mad  zealot  lights  the  fires  of  persecution, 
expatriating  the  flower  of  a  country's  population,  who  carry  religion 
and  the  arts  into  their  place  of  banishment.  Devotion  inspires  the 
propaganda,  and  missionaries  penetrate  the  antipodean  wilderness, 
domicile  among  barbarians,  and  plant  civilization  to  flourish  above 
their  martyr  graves.  Faith  feeds  the  courage  of  the  believer,  and 
impels  to  self-consecration ;  fired  by  religious  enthusiasm,  bound  by 
stern  conviction,  and  led  by  the  "inward  light,"  the  dissenting  Hugue 
not,  the  Covenanter,  the  Puritan,  and  the  Quaker  dare  the  ocean,  the 
desert,  and  the  savage,  in  search  of  a  home  of  righteousness,  for  free 
dom  and  for  peace.  Hope  stimulates  them,  a  religious  purpose  sus 
tains  them  ;  they  confront  every  peril,  endure  every  trial,  survive  all 
suffering,  outlive  every  hinderance,  and  triumph  at  last  over  every 
difficulty  in  the  adorable  name  of  God! 

§  Prophesied  in  the  rhapsodies  and  inspirations  of  the  seers  of  all 
ages;  mysteriously  reported  in  the  literature  of  Asia  in  the  early  dawn 
of  the  Christian  era;  celebrated  obscurely  in  the  historic  runes  of  the 
heroic  Scandinavian  sea-kings  a  thousand  years  ago,  and  claimed  by 
Icelandic  and  Danish  historians  as  the  familiar  haunt  of  their  fore 
fathers  for  many  centuries, — the  Western  Hemisphere  long  nourished 
on  its  soil  nations  who  imitated  the  architecture  of  Egypt,  perpetuated 
the  religious  rites  of  Tyre,  and  may  have  shared  in  the  commerce  of 
the  Orient.  On  the  shores  of  the  Western  World,  it  has  been  claimed, 
was  mined  the  gold  of  Ophir  for  the  temple  of  Solomon ;  while  the 

3 


4  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

broad  plains  of  its  continents  received,  it  is  said,  the  lost  and  wandering 
ten  tribes  of  Israel. 

Reflecting  dubiously  the  life  of  unknown  ages,  from  the  sculptured 
sides  and  hieroglyphic  ornaments  of  its  antique  and  symbolic  monu 
ments,  America  inspires  the  imagination,  but  compels  the  mind  to  drift 
unsatisfied  over  its  vast  and  significant  ruins,  back  into  the  twilight  of 
tradition  and  the  night  of  pre-historic  oblivion.  The  plains  of  America 
are  marked  by  the  work  of  a  race  without  a  record;  its  great  valleys 
covered  with  traces  of  a  numerous  and  active  population,  and  yet  they 
have  no  chronicle.  The  American  forests  tower  above  the  ruins  of 
large  cities  whose  civilization  is  evident  from  their  architecture, — still 
the  hosts  of  citizens  have  passed  away:  their  origin,  their  history,  and 
their  fate  conjecture  alone  can  intimate. 

But,  if  the  past  of  America  is  perplexing  to  the  antiquarian,  dubious 
in  historic  twilight,  or  hid  in  the  darkness  of  time  and  barbarism,  its 
modern  life  is  clearly  defined  and  of  thrilling  interest.  Here  are  no 
monuments  of  an  enduring  civilization,  linking  the  present,  generation 
by  generation,  to  the  remote  past ;  no  vast  collections  of  splendid 
volumes,  the  record  of  a  people's  ancient  glory ;  no  empire,  one  in 
faith  and  one  in  government  for  a  thousand  years, — all  is  new,  primi 
tive,  incomplete;  but  there  are  young  states  in  America  proud  as  Rome, 
more  free  than  Athens;  there  are  a  hundred  great,  luxurious,  and 
growing  cities  ;  there  are  public  works  that  open  up  the  long  sought 
passage  to  India,  and  millions  of  happy  homes,  of  the  best  provided, 
most  intelligent,  free,  and  independent  people. 

It  is  less  than  four  centuries  since  the  voyages  of  Columbus;  the 
history  is  brief,  but  the  advance  has  been  rapid,  the  development 
immense.  Each  American  generation  has  done  the  work  of  a  hundred 
years,  and  each  century  has  become  an  era  in  civilization,  an  epoch  in 
history.  To  compile  and  elaborate  the  record  of  such  an  advance,  and 
educe  the  principles  of  progress  from  the  facts  of  social  and  political 
evolution,  is  the  congenial  and  proper  work  of  philosophic  scholars, 
and  acute  and  comprehensive  minds  have  employed  themselves  therein 
^with  usefulness  and  honor. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  writer  to  ape  the  great  historiographers, 
but  he  may  modestly  hope  to  add  a  reliable  note  to  the  materials  of 
history,  suggest  some  practical  inference,  or  inspire  an  appropriate 
reflection,  just  as  the  wandering  but  observant  Indian,  though  unskilled 
to  build  the  monument  of  a  nation,  still  faithfully  places  a  votive  pebble 
upon  the  growing  mound  which  tells  of  the  greatness  of  his  tribe. 

However  little  the  present  publication  may  add  to  the  vast  sum  of 

/historic  knowledge,  it  at  least  indicates  the  causes  which  have  fostered 

.American   liberty,   and   manifests  the   nature  and    temper   of  a  free 

people  as  the  energetic  cause  of  moral  improvements  and  unexampled 

material   progress ;    this  appears   in  the  history  herein   given  of  the 


THE  REDISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA.  5 

settlement  of  the  valley  of  the  Delaware,  especially  in  New  Jersey,  and 
conclusively  in  the  interesting  and  detailed  account  of  the  develop 
ments  of  Sea  Grove, — that  beautiful  and  prosperous  town  having  been 
instituted  entirely  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  representative  men 
composing  the  Association  which  bears  its  name. 

§  The  discovery  of  America  was  prehistoric;  its  unrecorded  monu 
ments,  ruins,  and  sculptured  rocks  were  antiquated  when,  in  1492, 
Columbus  voyaged  to  the  West  Indies,  and  various  nations  and  races 
had  already  left  the  traces  of  their  visits  and  occupancy  at  a  number 
of  widely  separated  localities  upon  the  two  Western  Continents.  The 
modern  history  of  America  begins  with  the  voyages  of  the  inspired 
navigator  of  Genoa.  The  rediscovery  of  the  Western  Hemisphere 
commanded  the  attention  of  the  civilized  world ;  aroused  the  emula 
tion  of  nations,  and  the  ambition  of  kings ;  it  inflamed  the  spirit  of 
the  adventurous  and  enterprising ;  kindled  the  imagination  of  the 
enthusiastic ;  awakened  the  hopes  of  the  people ;  encouraged  the 
aspirations  of  liberal  statesmen,  and  actualized  the  dreams  of  the 
philanthropist. 

India  was  the  prize  Europe  coveted  four  hundred  years  ago.  Colum 
bus  sailed  for  Cathay,  and  supposed  he  landed  on  its  eastern  shore, — 
"the  beginning  and  the  end  of  India."  His  voyages  for  a  short  route 
to  India  discovered  America;  the  search  for  a  northwest  passage 
explored  the  shores  of  the  "  New  World." 

In  the  time  of  Columbus  it  was  the  uncertain  international  law  of 
Christendom,  that  Christian  nations  became  entitled  to  any  land  or 
country  its  citizens  discovered,  took  possession  of  and  occupied,  unless 
it  was  already  the  territory  of  other  Christians.  This  presumptuous 
claim  of  the  exclusive'Vight  of  a  sect,  as  such,  to  the  secular  owner 
ship  of  the  whole  world,  was  a  political  device,  and,  though  endorsed 
by  popes  and  approved  by  bishops,  was  at  once  absurd,  impudent,  and 
irreligious;  but  the  heresy  had  a  natural  origin,  and,  becoming  a  dogma 
and  an  apology,  developed  an  awful  historic  sequence. 

Numerous  as  the  voyages  of  discovery  to  America  were,  and  impor 
tant  as  trade  became,  for  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  after 
Columbus,  gross  ignorance  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  characterized 
the  action  of  even  the  courts  and  kings  of  Europe.  Under  the  name 
of  the  "  West  Indies,"  two  vast  and  rich  continents  were  long  regarded 
as  but  troublesome  islands  in  the  way  of  voyages  to  India,  and  frequent 
and  conflicting  royal  grants  afterwards  assumed  to  convey,  in  an  impos 
sible  manner,  possession  of  the  territories  of  America  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  the  grantors  having  the  untroubled  conceit  that  the  average 
width  of  the  continent  was  no  more  than  about  three  hundred  miles. 

Under  the  pretext  supplied  by  the  voyages  of  Columbus,  Alexander 
VI.,  "  the  worst  of  the  popes,"  assuming  to  be  the  temporal  as  well  as 
spiritual  head  of  Christendom,  pretended  to  invest  Spain  with  regal 


6  SCHEYICHDI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

possession  in  perpetuity  of  all  heathen  lands  found,  or  to  be  discovered, 
to  the  west  of  a  meridian  three  hundred  and  seventy  leagues  westward 
of  the  Azores.  In  insolent  and  fanatical  assertion  of  her  declared 
rights,  which,  thus  derived,  became  a  matter  of  religious  faith,  Spain 
undertook  to  monopolize  the  trade  of  the  West  Indies  and  control 
the  navigation  of  the  high  seas.  Hence,  Portugal  colonized  and 
traded  only  in  part  of  Brazil,  her  minute  allotment  of  all  the  vast 
"Indies;"  and  so,  in  defense  of  the  faith  enshrined  in  her  Papal  mon 
opoly,  the  fleets  of  Spain  pirated  all  vessels  they  overhauled  sailing  the 
Atlantic  to  her  pretended  exclusive  possessions.  At  the  same  time 
Spanish  kings  made  war  upon  Protestant  maritime  nations  in  a  way 
that  left  enterprising  Holland  no  chance  for  existence  but  in  her  defeat, 
and  compelled  England  to  sail  to  commercial  and  naval  supremacy 
over  the  sunken  hulks  of  the  "  Invincible  Armada." 

§  Although  Balthazar  Moucheron,  of  Holland,  and  his  associates, 
patrons  of  discovery,  moved  by  the  terrible  sufferings  and  failures  of 
their  explorers,  about  the  year  1600  abandoned  as  hopeless  the  quest 
for  a  northern  route  to  India,  the  immense  importance  of  such  a  pas 
sage  was  obvious,  and  the  Danes  and  English  continued  the  resolute 
search.  The  directors  of  the  prosperous  and  powerful  Dutch  East 
India  Company,  then  in  full  operation,  shared  the  notions  of  their 
cotemporaries,  and,  overruling  the  experienced  Moucheron  and  his 
Zeeland  partisans,  the  Amsterdam  members  of  the  Directory,  jealous 
of  Denmark  and  England,  decided  the  Company  to  seek  for  itself  a 
safer  and  more  convenient  way  to  their  remote  places  of  traffic.  The 
stockholders  of  the  East  India  Company  had  received  in  one  year  a 
dividend  of  seventy-five  per  cent,  on  their  investment;  they  could  well 
afford  a  venture  which  promised  even  greater  facilities  to  their  business. 
By  orders  from  the  Directory  at  Amsterdam,  a  very  fast  sailing  vessel 
named  "  De  Halve  Maan,"  or  Half  Moon,  of  forty  lasts  or  eighty  tons, 
a  "  vlie-boat,"  having  two  masts,  such  as  were  constructed  especially 
for  difficult  navigation  in  sounds  and  rivers,  was  fitted  for  an  arctic 
voyage.  For  a  schipper,  or  commander,  Henry  Hudson,  an  English 
man,  who  had  already  made  two  such  adventures,  was  engaged.  The 
under  schipper,  or  mate,  was  a  Dutchman,  and  the  vlie-boat  was 
manned  by  twenty  men,  English  and  Dutch.  Robert  Juet  sailed  with 
Hudson  as  his  clerk,  and  became  the  historian  of  the  voyage.  The 
De  Halve  Maan  was  ordered  to  look  for  a  passage  by  the  northeast  or 
northwest  to  China,  the  Directors  trusting  Hudson  to  find  some  way 
past  Nova  Zembla,  or  some  strait  or  channel  between  the  islands  of  the 
West  Indies,  by  which  their  fleets  of  Dutch  East  Indiamen,  fearless  of 
Spanish  interference,  could  bear  directly  to  India  and  all  the  Orient  the 
products  of  Europe  in  profitable  exchange  for  the  pearls  of  the  Asiatic 
Archipelago,  the  diamonds  of  Golconda,  the  lawns  of  the  Deccan,  and 
the  spices  of  Cathay. 


VOYAGE   OF  THE    VLIE-BOAT.  7 

Accompanied  by  his  only  son,  Hudson,  hailing  from  Amsterdam,  set 
sail  the  4th  of  April,  1609,  for  the  northeast  of  Norway.  He  left  the 
Texel  on  the  6th  of  April,  and  doubled  the  cape  of  Norway  on  the  5th 
of  May.  Finding  his  way  toward  Nova  Zembla  obstructed  by  vast  ice 
bergs,  and  his  ship  crowded  out  of  her  course  by  great  fields  of  moving 
ice,  Hudson  ran  the  Half  Moon  to  the  west  and  south.  Passing 
through  a  great  fleet  of  French  fishermen  off  Newfoundland,  and 
touching  at  several  points  on  the  coast  of  New  England,  he  arrived  off 
the  Chesapeake  in  the  middle  of  August.  Hudson's  old  friend,  Captain 
John  Smith,  had  given  him  a  map  of  Virginia,  on  which,  somewhere  to 
the  north  of  the  Chesapeake,  a  strait  was  laid  down,  by  which  Smith 
was  confident  the  Pacific  Ocean  could  be  reached.  Knowing  himself 
to  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  settlement  of  his  countrymen  and 
friends  at  Jamestown,  Hudson  put  his  ship  about,  August  1 8th,  and 
kept  along  the  coast  to  the  north  again.  The  Half  Moon  entered 
Delaware  Bay  August  28th,  which  Hudson  slightly  explored  and 
sounded,  making  observations  of  its  shores,  but  without  landing. 
Finding  he  could  not  sail  his  vlie-boat  from  Sea  Grove  to  San  Fran 
cisco,  and  hence  that  the  Delaware  was  not  the  passage  to  Cathay, 
Hudson  coasted  to  the  north  along  the  Jersey  shore,  and  on  the  3d  of 
September  anchored  inside  of  Sandheuken,  or  Sandy  Hook,  where  he 
remained  a  week,  and  was  frequently  visited  by  the  Indians.  From 
this  anchorage  the  Half  Moon  sailed  into  the  bay  of  New  York,  still 
being  visited  by  the  Indians,  whom  Hudson  and  his  crew  taught,  as 
their  first  lesson  in  civilization, — how  to  get  drunk. 

Hudson  examined  the  Hudson  River  for  twenty-two  days,  his  boats 
going  up  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  above  Albany,  and  then,  having 
made  sure  that  neither  Hell  Gate  nor  the  Hudson  were  a  water-way  to 
Hindustan,  he,  on  the  4th  of  October,  put  out  to  sea,  and,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  dissensions  of  his  crew,  finally  decided  to  set  sail  for 
Holland. 

The  Half  Moon  with  her  motley  and  mutinous  company,  of  whom 
Hudson  became  afraid,  put  into  Dartmouth,  in  England,  where,  the 
Dutch  assert,  she  was  detained  and  Hudson  kept  through  the  jealousy 
of  James  I.  Hudson,  however,  sent  a  brilliant  report  of  his  voyage  to 
his  employers  in  Holland,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  country  he 
visited  as  "  most  beautiful,"  "  het  scoonste  land  dat  men  met  voeten 
betreden  kon,"  etc.  Whoever  has  voyaged  up  the  "  Great  River  of  the 
Mountains,"  above  New  York,  by  the  Catskills,  or  yachted  in  August 
off  Sea  Grove  and  up  Delaware  Bay,  where  the  vlie-boat  De  Halve 
Maan  cruised  in  that  month  long  ago,  will  certainly  agree  with  him. 

During  his  fourth  voyage  of  discovery,  made  from  England  in  1610, 
Hudson  with  his  only  son  and  eight  men,  four  of  them  being  sick,  was 
driven  by  mutineers  from  his  ship,  the  Discovery,  into  an  unprovisioned 
boat  and  cast  loose  among  the  ice,  mid-seas  in  Hudson's  Bay.  There 


8  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

the  brave  and  persistent  navigator  must  have  cruelly  and  miserably 
perished. 

Could  he  but  voyage  once  more  out  of  the  cold  and  ice-bound  Arctic 
seas,  how  overwhelming  would  be  his  astonishment !  At  the  extreme 
point  of  Cape  May  he  saw,  with  admiration,  long  ago,  the  green  woods 
crowd  down  to  the  sandy  strand,  and  from  the  primeval  forest  the 
wondering  Kechemeches  stare  out,  thinking  his  ship  the  canoe  of  their 
Manitou.  There  he  would  now  look  in  amazement  upon  the  broad 
avenues  and  handsome  cottages  of  Sea  Grove  ;  he  would  see  hotels  and 
pavilions  in  the  place  of  savage  wigwams,  and  hear  the  Sabbath  bell, 
the  organ,  and  the  Christian  hymn,  instead  of  "the  gaunt  wolf's  long- 
drawn  howl"  along  the  shore,  or  the  war-whoop  of  the  exultant  savage. 

"  The  bay  of  the  south  river  was  the  first  place  of  which  the  men  of 
the  Half  Moon  took  possession,  before  any  Christian  had  been  there," 
says  Vander  Donk,  the  historian ;  and  the  claim  of  the  Dutch  to  the 
adjoining  territories  by  right  of  discovery  was  based  upon  the  assumed 
accuracy  of  the  statement.  Hudson  may  have  been  the  first  to  form 
ally  take  possession  of  the  Zuydt  Baai,  as  the  Hollanders  called  the 
bay  of  Delaware,  but  Cabot,  Cortereal,  Verazzani,  Captain  John  Smith, 
and  others,  had  at  various  times  carefully  observed  the  shores  and 
harbors  of  "  Virginia,"  and  cruised  along  the  coast  to  the  north ; 
besides,  it  is  historical  that  very  early,  scores  of  years  before  the  voy 
ages  of  Hudson,  "  there  was  hardly  a  convenient  harbor  on  the  whole 
Atlantic  frontier  of  the  United  States  which  was  not  entered  by 
slavers."  It  seems  that  Hudson,  following,  perhaps  unconsciously,  in 
the  wake  of  others,  merely  took  possession  of  the  unrecorded  dis 
coveries  of  some  unknown  navigator. 

§  In  answer  to  the  petitions  of  a  number  of  merchants,  a  general 
edict  was  issued  by  the  States  General  of  Holland,  March  27th,  1614, 
for  the  encouragement  of  discovery  and  the  protection  of  aboriginal 
trade.  It  was  enacted  by  the  High  and  Mighty  States  General  that 
the  discoveries  of  "  any  new  courses,  havens,  countries,  or  places" 
should  have  "  the  exclusive  privilege  of  resorting  to  and  frequenting 
the  same  for  four  voyages,"  and  all  intruders  were  to  be  punished  by 
confiscation  and  fines.  A  number  of  merchants,  chiefly  of  Amster 
dam,  thereupon  formed  a  partnership  to  make  discoveries  and  carry 
on  trade  to  new  countries,  and  five  vessels  were  fitted  out  to  follow  in 
the  track  of  Hudson  to  Manhattan.  One  of  these,  named  the  Fortune, 
was  from  Hoorn,  a  port  in  North  Holland,  and  commandc-d  by  Corne- 
lis  Jacobsen  Mey;  another  ship,  also  called  the  Fortune,  was  in 
charge  of  Commander  Hendrick  Christiaensen  ;  a  third,  named  the 
Tiger,  was  sailed  by  Captain  Adriaen  Block.  Arriving  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Hudson,  Block's  vessel  was  accidentally  destroyed  by  fire.  To 
retrieve  this  misfortune,  he  erected  a  few  huts  at  Castle  Garden,  and 
began  to  construct  a  yacht  of  about  sixteen  tons  burthen,  of  the  fine 


THE  FIRST   VESSEL  BUILT  AT  NEW   YORK.  9 

timber  he  found  there,  the  Indians  kindly  feeding  him  and  his  men,  all 
the  winter  of  1613.  May,  in  the  mean  time,  cruised  to  the  eastward, 
coasted  along  the  southern  shore  of  Long  Island,  and  continued  his 
trip  to  Martha's  Vineyard,  then  called  "  Capacke"  by  the  natives. 
Upon  the  completion  of  his  new  craft,  the  Onrust,  or  Restless,  Block 
sailed  through  the  East  River  and  Hell  Gate,  where  he  led  the  way  as 
a  pilot,  and  through  Long  Island  Sound,  observing  the  coasts,  harbors, 
islands,  rivers,  and  waters,  as  far  as  Cape  Cod,  the  promontory  to 
which  Hudson,  in  the  summer  of  1609,  had  given  the  name  of  "  New 
Holland."  Block  ascertained  that  Long  Island  was  sea-girt,  and  visited 
many  other  remarkable  places  along  the  New  England  coast.  The 
records  of  the  voyages  of  the  consort  ships,  the  Fortune,  the  Little 
Fox,  and  Nightingale,  in  1613  and  1614,  are  imperfect  and  unreliable. 

The  name  of  Block  Island  perpetuates  the  memory  of  its  persistent 
and  intrepid  discoverer,  the  first  man  to  run  a  keel  through  Hell  Gate, 
and  the  first  "  Long  Island  Sound  Pilot."  The  shores  which  Block 
surveyed,  and  which  Holland  first  colonized,  have  been  for  two  cen 
turies  or  more,  as  now,  "  the  land  of  steady  habits,"  the  home  of  in 
dustry,  prosperity,  intelligence,  and  freedom, — a  "  New  Holland," 
indeed,  a  "  New  'England"  as  well.  They  are  glorious  by  day  with 
many  a  fair  town  and  city,  and  sparkle  at  night  with  scores  of  shining 
beacons,  while  over  the  seas  the  Dutchman  slowly  navigated  speeds 
in  ceaseless  succession  a  numerous  fleet  of  "  floating  palaces,"  the  best, 
the  safest,  and  most  magnificent  steamboats  in  the  world. 

The  "  Restless,"  built  at  Manhattan,  in  1614,  was  thirty-eight  feet  in 
the  keel,  forty-four  and  one-half  feet  from  stem  to  stern,  and  eleven 
and  one-half  feet  wide.  She  was  remarkable  as  the  first  vessel  built  in 
the  harbor  of  New  York,  but  was  not,  as  has  been  written,  "  the  first 
decked  vessel  built  in  the  old  United  States,"  the  "  Virginia,"  of  "  Saga- 
dahoc,"  of  thirty  tons,  a  "pretty  pinnace,"  having  been  built  by  "one 
Digby,  of  London,"  at  St.  George's, — Sir  George  Popham's  settlement, 
— at  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot  River,  in  the  winter  of  1607.  Still,  the 
Restless  was  a  notable  craft,  for  she  sailed  in  the  van  of  a  countless 
fleet,  which  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  has  stood  out  from  the 
northern  coast  of  the  United  States  to  astonish  the  navigators  of  Eu 
rope  by  the  excellence  of  American  ships,  and  furnish  models  for  the 
improvement  of  the  naval  architecture  of  the  world.  Of  all  the  many 
fine  ships  which  have  done  honor  to  American  shipwrights,  a  credita- 
_ble  share  have  been  launched  in  the  waters  of  the  Delaware.  Since 
"the  "  iron  age"  of  shipbuilding,  the  craftsmen  of  its  shores  have  made 
their  names  honorably  known  from  London  to  the  "  city  of  Pekin," 
and  now  compete  with  England  and  Scotland  for  supremacy  in  trade, 
confident  of  surpassing  the  industries  of  the  Clyde  on  the  banks  of 
the  Delaware. 

The  Restless  explored  her  way  to  "  Pye  Bay,"  now  Nahant  Bay, 


10  SCHEYICHBI  AXD    THE  STRAND. 

Massachusetts;  there  she  fell  in  with  Christiaensen's  ship,  the  Fortune, 
also  on  a  cruise.  Leaving  the  Restless  in  command  of  Cornelis  Hen- 
dricksen,  to  be  used  in  exploring  on  the  coast  and  in  the  rivers,  Block 
returned  to  North  Holland  and  made  his  report  to  his  employers. 
From  his  sketches  and  descriptions  an  elaborate  "  Figurative  Map"  was 
made,  and  laid  before  the  States  General,  with  a  request  for  a  charter 
for  those  who  had  procured  the  discovery  of  the  lands  delineated  upon 
it,  without  delay.  A  special  grant,  dated  October  iith,  1614,  was 
made  to  the  Amsterdam  partnership;  they  were  conceded  the  monop 
oly  of  trade  from  forty  to  forty-five  degrees  north  latitude  on  the  coasts 
of  America.  The  partnership  took  the  title  of  "  The  United  New 
Netherland  Company."  The  territory  assigned  them  was  called  New 
Netherland.  At  the  same  time,  at  Manhaddoes,  or  Manhattan,  their 
principal  fort  was  named  "  New  Amsterdam." 

The  first  vessel  built  at  Manhattan  was  the  first  to  cruise  the  Dela 
ware.  Hudson,  in  1609,  was  too  fearful  of  getting  aground  to  attempt 
explorations  in  Zuydt  Baai,  though  less  timid  in  the  Noordt  Riviere. 
Argall,  on  his  return  from  his  mysterious  cruise  in  1610,  remained  but 
a  day  at  anchor  in  the  Delaware,  leaving  the  same  evening  for  the 
Chesapeake,  but,  in  1616,  circumstances  led  to  an  exploration  of  the 
Poutaxit.  It  happened  that  three  fur  traders,  agents  of  the  New 
Netherland  Company,  having  left  Fort  Nassau  (near  Albany),  and 
made  their  way  along  Indian  trails  to  the  mouth  of  the  Schuylkill, 
were  there  kept  prisoners;  news  of  this  reaching  Manhattan,  the 
Restless  was  sent  from  the  Mauritius  River,  under  command  of  Cor 
nelis  Hendricksen,  to  ransom  the  adventurous  captives.  Block  had 
constructed  the  Onrust  for  shallow  waters  and  inland  navigation; 
so  Hendricksen,  on  his  arrival  at  Zuydt  Baai,  coasted  fearlessly  along 
the  western  shore,  making  careful  observations,  bartering  with  the 
natives  for  seal-skins  and  sables,  and  being  delighted  with  the  scenery, 
climate,  and  vegetable  productions  of  the  valley,  until  he  arrived  at 
Coaquannock,  "  the  place  of  tall  pines,"  now  central  Philadelphia;  there 
he  found  and  ransomed  his  countrymen  for  "kettles,  beads,  and  other 
merchandise." 

The  people  at  Manhattan  now  called  the  Delaware  River  New,  South, 
or  "Zuydt"  River,  and  the  southern  Cape  of  Zuydt  Baai,  now  called 
Henlopen,  was  soon  known  as  Cape  Cornelis,  after  Cornelis  Hendrick 
sen.  A  point  some  miles  south  of  Cape  Cornelis  was  named  Hinlopen, 
in  honor  of  Thymen  Jacobsen  Hinlopen,  of  Amsterdam,  one  of  the 
"Northern  Company,"  engaged  in  the  whale  fisheries  and  explorations, 
by  which  Block  was  employed  on  his  return  from  America.  Cape 
Hinlopen  was  also  called  Inloopen  by  the  Dutch  schippers,  because 
it  seemed  to  recede  from  sight  when  approached  from  the  sea.  The 
names  of  these  capes  have  been  transferred,  and  the  name  of  Henlopen 
is  now  borne  by  the  point  at  first  named  Cornelis. 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAME  OF  CAPE  MAY.  n 

§  In  1620,  Cornelius  Jacobsen  May,  who  in  1614  commanded  the 
Fortune  of  Hoorn  in  the  explorations  along  the  coast  east  of  Man 
hattan,  came  again  to  New  Netherland  in  a  new  vessel  called  the 
"Blyde  Boodschap,"  or  Glad  Tidings.  This  voyage  was  intended  for 
the  exploration  of  territories  to  the  west  of  and  below  Manhattan,  and 
those  south  of  the  fortieth  degree  to  "Virginia,"  and  was  made  to 
include  Zuydt  Baai  and  the  Chesapeake,  which  the  Blyde  Boodschap 
ascended,  and  went  up  the  James  River  to  Jamestown.  May  carefully 
examined  the  bay  and  river  of  the  Delaware,  where  Hendricksen  had 
preceded  him  four  years  before,  and  then  returning  to  Holland  early 
in  the  summer  of  1620,  announced  the  discovery  of  "certain  new 
populous  and  fruitful  lands"  along  the  Zuydt  Riviere.  The  Poutaxit, 
Zuydt,  or  Delaware  Bay,  as  the  Indians,  Dutch,  and  English  had 
named  it,  was  after  this  called  "  Nieuw  Port  Mey,"  and  the  name  of 
"  Cape  Mey"  was  given  to  the  southern  point  of  New  Jersey,  then  as 
now  "the  best  bathing  place  in  the  world." 

May,  as  Hendricksen  had  done,  indeed  as  every  one  does  who  visits 
Cape  May  in  summer,  found  the  climate  charming.  It  was  the  highest 
compliment  they  could  imagine,  when  the  Dutch  explorers,  a  home- 
loving  though  voyaging  people,  declared  the  climate  of  the  Delaware 
was  "like  to  that  of  Holland;"  as  good  as  home.  As  it  happened, 
both  the  nomen  and  cognomen  of  Cornelius  Jacobsen  May  were 
applied  to  capes  at  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware,  but  the  name  of 
Cornelius,  given  in  honor  of  Hendricksen,  has  been  thrust  aside  and 
made  insignificant,  while  the  fame  of  CAPE  MAY  has  become  world 
wide,  and  summer  by  summer  its  increasing  attractions  add  to  its 
popularity,  as  time  multiplies  its  appreciative  visitors. 

§  The  principles  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation  gave  permanence  and 
character  to  the  colonization  of  the  United  States ;  the  hand  of  perse 
cution  pointed  the  way  to  New  Netherland,  and  the  valleys  of  the  Hud 
son  and  the  Delaware  became  an  asylum  from  ecclesiastical  despotism 
even  while  the  Puritans  of  New  England,  jealous  of  their  own  freedom, 
denied  liberty  to  others.  When,  in  1623,  the  great  Dutch  West  India 
Company,  complete  in  organization,  sought  to  people  its  territories,  the 
victims  of  persecution  offered  themselves  as  its  first  and  most  desirable 
emigrants. 

When  the  Hollanders,  after  their  revolt  against  Spain  and  the  Inqui 
sition,  in  1565,  formed  the  Union  of  Utrecht,  the  Belgic  provinces  of 
Hainault,  Namur,  Luxemburg,  Limburg,  and  Liege,  having  mostly 
Roman  Catholic  citizens,  did  not  join  the  Dutch  Confederation ;  still, 
many  of  the  Belgic  people  were  Protestants,  and  as  such  were  victims 
of  persecution  under  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  Speaking  the  old  French  lan 
guage,  these  people  were  termed  Gallois ;  they  fled  by  thousands  to 
Holland,  where  their  skill  as  well  as  their  faith  secured  them  protection 
and  a  welcome.  In  low  Dutch  the  name  of  the  refugees  became 


12  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

"  Waalsche,"  which  the  English  rendered  Walloons.  The  farmers 
among  the  Walloons  found  poor  encouragement  in  Holland,  and  in 
1622  a  number  of  them  offered  to  emigrate  to  Virginia  if  assured 
municipal  freedom.  Some  delay  followed  their  application  to  the 
British  Minister  at  the  Hague,  and  meantime  those  willing  to  form  a 
settlement  were,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Provincial  States  of  Holland, 
engaged  as  colonists  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  and  em 
ployed  in  Holland  until  such  time  as  the  perfect  organization  of  that 
corporation  would  enable  its  Directors  to  send  the  Walloons  to  New 
Netherland. 

Having  by  virtue  of  their  charter  taken  possession  of  their  domain 
in  1622,  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  secured  the  assent  of  the 
States  General  to  their  articles  of  internal  government  the  2ist  of 
June,  1623.  The  same  month  three  trading  ships  were  dispatched 
to  Manhattan  "  to  maintain  the  course  of  traffic,"  and  a  special  effort 
was  made  to  colonize  "  Nova  Belgia."  The  "  New  Netherland,"  a  ship 
of  two  hundred  and  sixty  tons,  was  fitted  up,  and  on  board  her  were 
embarked  a  company  of  thirty  families,  mostly  the  Walloons  who  had 
offered  to  settle  in  Virginia.  The  superintendence  of  the  ship  and 
colony  was  entrusted  to  Cornelius  Jacobsen  May,  who  was  appointed  to 
remain  in  New  Netherland  as  First  Director  ;  his  second  in  command 
on  the  ship  being  Schipper  Adriaen  Joris,  of  Theinpont.  The  expe 
dition  left  the  Texel  early  in  March,  and,  following  the  southern  route 
by  the  Canary  Islands  and  Guiana,  came  in  safety  to  Manhattan,  the 
beginning  of  May.  At  the  mouth  of  the  North  River  the  emigrants 
repulsed  a  party  of  Frenchmen,  who  were  about  to  erect  the  arms  of 
France;  the  French  ship,  however,  renewed  her  attempt  at  Zuydt  Baai, 
but  was  driven  off  from  there  by  the  Dutch  settlers  or  traders.  At  an 
early  date  the  Dutch  established  a  lookout  at  Cape  May,  and  from  the 
time  Cornelius  Hendricksen  in  the  Onrust  explored  the  Delaware, 
they  were  generally  well  informed  of  whatever  took  place  thereabouts, 
and  frequently  warned  off  whoever  entered. 

At  Manhattan,  Director  May  left  several  families,  and  a  number  of 
sailors  and  men  from  the  New  Netherland,  for  the  settlement  of  South 
River  and  the  shore  of  the  sound  eastward.  The  ship  then  proceeded 
with  difficulty  up  the  North  River,  and  landed  her  company  just  above 
Castle  Island,  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Hudson,  at  Albany.  There 
"a  fort  with  four  angles,  named  Orange,"  which  had  been  plotted  the 
year  before,  was  soon  completed  ;  the  industrious  Walloons  "  put  the 
spade  in  the  earth,"  and  when  the  next  yacht  sailed  for  Holland,  their 
corn  "  was  nearly  as  high  as  a  man,  so  that  they  were  getting  along 
bravely."  Brave  hearts,  heroic  souls,  the  verdant  corn  you  tilled  struck 
no  root  so  deep  in  the  soil  of  the  New  World  as  the  faith  for  which  you 
were  exiles,  no  harvest  spread  so  rich  a  growth  as  the  principles  of 
freedom  and  toleration  you  planted  here!  Down  the  Hudson  every 


LOVE  AND   PEACE  IN   THE    WILDERNESS.  I3 

year  floats  the  wealth  of  granaries,  richer  than  Egypt,  but  the  spirit  of 
Religious  Liberty  and  Civil  Independence,  entrenched  in  the  hearts  of 
millions,  bids  defiance  to  intriguing  priests  and  threatening  tyrants  as  it 
breathes  the  benediction  of  "  Peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to  men" 
over  the  vast  expanse  of  a  mighty  continent. 

To  prevent  attempts  to  occupy  Zuydt  Baai,  the  fort  projected  in 
1622  was,  by  order  of  Director  May,  speedily  completed.  It  was  built 
five  miles  below  Philadelphia,  on  the  Jersey  side  of  the  river,  of  great 
logs,  and  named  Fort  Nassau,  the  first  post  of  that  name,  on  the  island 
near  Albany,  having  been  destroyed  by  flood  and  ice.  There  were 
four  weddings  on  board  the  New  Netherland  during  her  two-months' 
voyage  from  Holland  over  the  sunny  Southern  seas.  Director  May, 
who  was  a  kindly  man,  had  been  directed  to  govern  his  people  "  as  a 
father,  not  as  an  executioner;"  and  it  was  with  a  touch  of  romance,  as 
well  as  paternal  care,  that  he  selected  these  eight  newly-married  Wal 
loons,  and  sent  them,  about  the  first  of  June,  in  a  yacht,  with  as  many 
sailors,  to  abide  at  Fort  Nassau.  They  were  far  from  home,  from 
friends,  even  from  civilization,  a  mere  handful  in  the  wilderness  among 
savages,  but  they  were  enough  ;  each  for  the  other  of  every  pair,  and 
all  for  each  of  the  quadruple  family.  It  was  a  fitting  and  poetic  thing 
that  the  valley  which  was  to  welcome  the  men  of  peace,  and  grow  in 
peace  to  be  the  home  of  freedom,  should  owe  its  first  historic  settle 
ment  to  young  and  joyous  brides,  with  their  free  and  hopeful  partners. 
It  was  in  harmony  also  that  they  should  come  in  the  freshness  of 
summer,  when  the  very  air  was  balm,  when  every  leaf  told  of  life  and 
vigor,  when  every  forest  aisle  was  sweet  with  woodland  fragrance  and 
echoing  with  bird  songs,  every  note  swelling  the  all-pervading  melody, 
one  perfect  chorus,  whose  glad  refrain  was  evermore  of  love,  and  still 
of  universal,  all-embracing  love. 

Eighteen  of  the  Walloon  families  settled  at  Albany,  others  went  for 
a  time  to  the  House  of  Good  Hope,  at  Hartford,  Connecticut;  others 
made  themselves  homes,  in  comfort  and  happiness,  on  Long  Island. 
There,  in  June,  1625,  Sarah  Rapelje,  the  first  white  child  of  New  Neth 
erland,  was  born  ;  and  thereabouts,  in  usefulness  and  honor,  the  de 
scendants  of  the  Calvanist  Gallois  still  reside. 

§  Of  Cornelius  Jacobsen  May,  who  was  formally  installed  during 
the  summer  of  1623  as  the  first  Director-General  of  New  Netherland, 
there  is  but  little  more  to  be  said,  but  that  little  is  entirely  to  his 
credit.  "'Tis  better  to  govern  by  love  and  friendship  than  by  force," 
wrote  his  superiors  in  Holland  ;  and  May  acted  in  the  spirit  of  his 
instructions,  to  "  the  great  contentment  of  the  people."  Among  the 
Indians  at  Fort  Nassau  May's  little  colony  of  brides  and  grooms  were 
unharmed,  while  at  both  Manhattan  and  Fort  Orange  the  Indians 
"  were  all  as  quiet  as  lambs,  and  came  and  traded  with  all  the  free 
dom  imaginable."  It  required  other  men  than  May,  and  other  means 

2 


I4  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

than  "  love  and  friendship,"  to  arouse  the  savage  in  the  red  man  of 
America. 

Mentioned  as  a  man  of  experience  at  the  time  of  his  appointment, 
Director  May  had  many  unrecorded  adventures.  During  one  of  his 
earliest  voyages  to  America  he  found  the  colonists  at  Manhattan  suf 
fering  for  stores  and  clothing.  From  his  own  ship  he  supplied  their 
necessities,  and  the  grateful  Manhattanese  celebrated  the  timely  relief 
by  giving  the  name  of  Port  May  to  their  harbor. 

The  voyage  of  Director  May  to  the  Delaware,  in  1620,  was  com 
memorated  by  the  name  of  New  Port  May,  applied  to  the  bay  of  the 
Delaware,  and  by  that  of  Cape  May,  ever  since  retained  by  the  southern 
point  of  New  Jersey. 

Thus  circumstances  supposed  to  indicate  the  vanity  of  May  in  affix 
ing  his  name  to  various  localities  are  explained  either  as  a  just  tribute 
to  the  deeds  of  another  exploring  "  Cornelius,"  or  the  grateful  and 
graceful  act  of  his  people. 

Cape  May  is  one  of  the  very  few  points  about  the  Delaware  which 
retain  the  names  first  given  them  by  white  men  ;  but  of  the  thousands 
who  visit  it  annually,  very  many  are  not  aware  of  the  source  from  which 
that  name  was  derived.  Some,  careless  of  history,  infer  from  their 
pleasant  experience  of  its  balmy  atmosphere  that  Cape  May  derived  its 
appellation  from  the  May-like  breezes  which  make  its  summers  "balmy 
as  the  breath  of  spring."  But  "  the  Cape,"  especially  since  the  improve 
ment  of  Sea  Grove,  has  too  many  charming  attractions  to  need  mis 
representation  to  make  it  popular.  By  nature  and  improvement  Cape 
May  is  superior  as  a  seaside  resort,  but  its  name  is  significant  only  as 
a  memento  of  the  old-time  voyages  of  the  Hollanders,  and  of  their 
regard  for  the  character  and  exploits  of  their  popular  Superintendent. 

Though  the  name  of  Cornelius  Jacobsen  May  disappears  from  this 
history,  the  admirers  of  Cape  May  have  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  name 
it  bears,  since  it  recalls  only  deeds  of  courage  and  goodness,  such  as 
confer  an  honest  fame  in  the  history  of  time,  and  crown  with  happiness 
the  pure  in  heart  amid  the  glories  of  eternity. 

§  But  while  perfect  peace  and  fair  prosperity  marked  the  history  of 
their  colonies,  the  Directors  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  were 
disturbed  by  the  enterprise  of  a  person  destined  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  events  of  New  Netherland.  A  mariner  of  Hoorn,  North 
Holland,  by  the  name  of  David  Pietersen  De  Vries,  who  had  several 
times  voyaged  to  Newfoundland,  procured  a  commission  from  the  King 
of  France,  and,  dividing  his  venture  with  some  Rochelle  merchants,  he 
bought  a  small  vessel  for  a  voyage  to  Canada,  for  fish  and  peltries. 
Determined  to  prevent  all  ships  but  their  own  sailing  to  North  Amer 
ica  from  Holland,  the  Directors  seized  the  vessel  of  De  Vries  as  it  lay 
in  the  harbor  of  Hoorn  ready  to  sail,  and  detained  it  until  an  admoni 
tory  mandate  of  the  States  General  ordered  its  release.  De  Vries  re- 


FIRST  PURCHASE   OF  MANHATTAN.  15 

ceived  his  vessel  after  much  delay ;  although  his  v*oyage  was  broken 
up,  his  claim  for  damages  was  evaded,  and,  suffering  from  corporate 
injustice,  the  enterprising  navigator  was  compelled  to  bide  his  time 
and  await  another  chance  of  fortune. 

Director  William  Verhulst  presided  over  New  Netherland  in  1625. 
He  visited  the  Delaware  and  extended  his  voyage  far  up  to  the  falls 
at  Trenton;  there  on  an  island  in  the  bend  of  the  river  another  trading 
post  was  established,  and  for  a  time  occupied  by  several  families  of 
Walloons.  Verhulst  returned  to  Holland  in  1626,  and  Peter  Minuit 
became  Director-General  of  New  Netherland.  "To  superadd  a  higher 
title"  than  that  supposed  to  be  derived  from  discovery  and  occupation, 
Minuit  purchased  Manhattan  from  the  Indians.  The  island  contained 
about  twenty-two  thousand  acres,  and  was  bought  of  the  natives  "for 
the  value  of  sixty  guilders," — about  twenty-four  dollars. 

Having  bought  Manhattan,  the  Dutch  began  a  fort,  "to  be  faced 
with  cut  stone,"  for  its  defense;  for  the  misbehavior  of  some  of  the 
colonists  had  given  reason  to  fear  just  hostility.  About  the  same  time 
the  posts  on  South  River  were  much  reduced,  and  in  1628  left  un- 
tenanted,  in  order  to  strengthen  Manhattan.  Still  there  were  in  all 
probability  settlers  left  on  the  Delaware,  not  perhaps  the  servants  of 
the  Company,  but  "  vrye  persoonen,"  who  had  reason  to  trust  their 
Indian  neighbors,  and  led  a  roving,  adventurous  life  among  them;  but 
of  these  adventurers  history,  made  up  of  corporation  documents,  has 
nothing  to  relate.  Before  the  completion  of  the  fort  at  Manhattan,  it 
was  called  Fort  Amsterdam,  and  made  the  seat  of  government.  There 
has  been  a  great  amount  and  variety  of  government  on  the  island  of 
New  York  since  that  date,  and  not  a  little  misgovernment;  but  with  it 
all  an  undeniable  increase  of  trade,  and  a  most  notable  advance  in  the 
price  of  real  estate. 

§  The  United  Provinces  of  the  Batavian  Republic  elaborated  the  idea 
of  federal  union,  but  their  institutions  failed  to  develop  personal  liberty; 
the  peasantry  of  Holland  had  therefore  too  little  self-reliance  to  emigrate, 
and  a  plan  was  evolved  to  encourage  colonization,  called  the  Charter 
of  Privileges  and  Exemptions.  By  the  provisions  of  this  new  charter 
of  1629,  whoever  of  the  stockholders  of  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company  established  a  colony  of  fifty  persons  within  four  years  in 
New  Netherland,  became  a  "  Patroon"  or  "  Lord  of  the  Manor."  The 
Patroon  had  jurisdiction  over  the  settlement  he  founded,  and,  by 
peaceful  purchase  from  the  natives,  might  hold  and  own  the  lands  on 
the  sea-shore  or  river-bank  for  sixteen  miles,  and  as  far  inland  as  "the 
situation  of  the  occupiers  would  admit;"  or  the  land  each  side  of  a 
river  could  be  held  half  as  far,  with  a  pro  rata  increase  for  more 
colonists  in  each  case. 

While  the  Charter  of  Freedoms  and  Exemptions  was  under  consid 
eration,  several  directors  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  tempted 


1 6  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

by  the  concessions  it  made,  undertook  to  forestall  its  provisions,  and 
embezzle  for  themselves  in  advance  the  richest  territories  of  the  cor 
poration.  These  crafty  schemers  sent  three  ships  to  America  with 
agents  to  locate  manors,  and  buy  the  land  of  the  Indians.  One  of  these 
ships  entered  the  Delaware  in  May,  and  on  the  1st  of  June,  1629,  a 
few  days  before  the  adoption  of  the  charter  in  Holland,  "two  persons," 
who  came  on  the  ship,  bought  for  directors  Samuel  Godyn  and  Samuel 
Blommaert,  from  the  natives,  a  tract  of  land  two  miles  wide,  which 
extended  from  Cape  Henlopen  thirty-two  miles  up  the  bay  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  after  the  adoption 
of  the  Charter  of  Freedoms  and  Exemptions,  Director  Samuel  Godyn 
gave  notice  that  he  as  Patroon  occupied  the  bay  of  the  South  River, 
having  notified  Minuit  to  register  his  possession  of  the  same  at  New 
Amsterdam.  To  remove  the  dissatisfaction  which  was  manifest  in  the 
chamber  at  the  course  taken  by  them,  and  to  secure  capital,  the  Pa- 
troons  admitted  Killiaen  Van  Rensselaer,  Johannes  de  Laet,  the  his 
torian,  Mathias  Van  Ceulen,  Hendrick  Hamel,  Johan  Van  Haringhoeck, 
and  Nicholas  Van  Sittorigh,  as  partners  in  their  enterprise.  In  order  to 
secure  his  services  as  superintendent,  Pieterzen  De  Vries  was  made  an 
equal  partner  in  the  concern.  The  ship  "Walvis,"  or  Whale,  carrying 
eighteen  guns,  and  a  yacht,  were  fitted  out  at  once  for  an  expedition 
to  the  Zuydt  Baai.  The  two  vessels  were  loaded  with  colonists,  stock, 
animals,  seeds,  tools,  and  the  requisites  of  an  agricultural  colony.  At 
the  suggestion  of  Godyn,  implements  were  also  taken  for  the  capture 
of  the  whales,  seals,  and  sturgeons,  then  abundant  in  the  Delaware. 

Amply  supplied,  the  expedition  left  the  Texel  December  I2th,  1630, 
under  command  of  Pieter  Heyes,  of  Edam,  North  Holland,  Peterzen 
De  Vries  remaining  in  Amsterdam.  Through  carelessness  on  board 
the  Walvis,  the  yacht  was  captured  by  Dunkirk  privateers,  but  the 
ship  kept  on,  and,  passing  by  Tortugas,  where  a  part  of  her  colonists 
were  bound  on  French  account,  but  which  was  found  in  Spanish  hands, 
she  completed  her  trip.  In  April,  the  Whale  arrived  safely  at  Zuydt 
Baai.  Finding  a  safe  landing  and  convenient  harbor,  with  islands, 
good  oysters,  and  very  fertile  land,  the  colony  was  landed  up  the 
stream  on  the  banks  of  a  "  kill"  (creek,  or  small  river),  near  the  present 
Lewes,  Del.  This  stream,  which  was  called  after  the  city  of  Hoorn, 
Hoornkill,  Hoorkill,  etc.,  afterwards  corrupted  to  Whoorkill,  or  Whore- 
kill,  was  also  called  the  river  of  Swans,  and  was  reported  to  be  two 
leagues  from  "  Cape  Kornelis,"  now  Cape  Henlopen,  the  site  of  the 
splendid  light  that,  with  its  equal  and  neighbor  at  Sea  Grove,  illumin 
ates  the  wide  entrance  to  the  Delaware.  In  the  vale  where  the  Dutch 
colonists  landed  there  were  many  swans,  and  hence  they  gave  their 
settlement  the  name  of  Swaanendael  (Swandale). 

Gillis  Hossett,  a  former  agent  of  Van  Rensselaer's  in  the  purchase 


ORIGINAL   DEED    OF  CAPE  MAY.  17 

of  lands  from  the  North  River  Indians,  was  placed  in  command  of  the 
station  ;  a  large  brick  house  was  built  of  Holland  brick,  and  enclosed 
with  palisades  ;  this  building  served  at  once  as  a  residence  for  all  the 
colony,  a  storehouse,  and  a  fort.  As  soon  as  the  settlement  was  well 
begun,  Commissary  Hossett  and  Schipper  Heyes  visited  the  Jersey 
shore,  and,  as  agents  of  Godyn  and  Blommaert,  bought  of  ten  Indian 
chiefs,  on  May  5th,  1630,  a  tract  of  land  twelve  miles  along  the  shore 
of  the  bay,  from  Cape  May  Point  to  the  north,  and  twelve  miles  inland 
above,  and  including  Cape  May.  The  lands  on  the  northern  and 
eastern  shores  of  Delaware  Bay  were  in  possession  of  the  great  and 
influential  but  peaceable  tribe,  called  Lenni  Lenape  (the  original 
people).  From  them  must  have  been  obtained  the  original  title  to 
Cape  May ;  and  the  Nanticokes,  who  occupied  what  is  now  Delaware, 
must  have  been  the  grantors  who,  on  July  I5th,  1630,  ratified  by  treaty 
the  sale  of  the  western  shore  of  the  bay,  made  to  Godyn  and  Bloni- 
maert's  agents  the  year  before. 

§  Such  is  the  record  of  the  first  transaction  in  real  estate  at  Cape 
May ;  the  advance  in  value  on  the  smallest  building  lot  in  Sea  Grove, 
for  the  current  year,  is  represented  by  a  sum  of  money  greater  than 
was  needed  to  buy  the  lands  of  all  the  lower  Delaware;  yet  both 
parties  were  well  pleased  with  the  speculation.  The  Indians,  who 
knew  but  little  more  of  the  full  purport  and  effect  of  a  deed  of  land 
than  the  deer  of  the  primeval  woods,  were  delighted  with  the  "pres 
ents"  they  received,  and  charmed  by  the  civil  and  novel  manners  of 
their  liberal  customers.  The  patroons  needed  but  to  examine  their  pur 
chase  to  become  satisfied  they  had  come  into  possession  of  a  land  of 
promise.  Zuydt  Baai  was  now  called  Godyn's  Baai,  by  which  name  it 
was  afterwards  well  known  to  the  Dutch.  After  spending  a  few  weeks 
at  Swaanendael,  Heyes,  with  Hossett  in  company,  visited  New  Amster 
dam,  and  there,  on  the  3d  of  June,  1631,  had  the  purchase  they  had 
effected  formally  recorded  and  attested  by  Director- General  Minuit 
and  his  council.  The  deeds  of  the  lands  purchased  on  the  Delaware 
for  Godyn  and  Blommaert  were  deposited  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  and 
conveyed  to  Holland,  but  are  now  in  the  archives  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  at  Albany. 

Whaling  was  undertaken  by  Heyes  in  Godyn's  Baai,  but  the  experi 
ment  was  a  failure,  and,  in  September,  1631,  the  Walvis  sailed  for  Hol 
land.  Gillis  Hossett  remained  at  Swaanendael  to  superintend  that 
colony,  and,  by  more  thorough  explorations  of  the  new  manors  and 
their  resources,  prepare  the  way  for  future  settlements. 

Pioneer  explorations  must  have  been  magnificent  in  those  days.  As 
Hossett  sailed  over  the  waters  of  the  Delaware  he  saw  a  roadstead  and 
harbor,  where  all  the  commerce  of  Europe  could  ride  secure;  the  low 
shores  on  either  side  reminded  him  and  his  companions  of  Holland, 
as  they  offered  every  facility  for  the  construction  of  canals,  in  broad 


1 8  SCHEYICHDI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

marshes,  which  could  easily  be  redeemed  from  the  sea,  and  turned  into 
fertile  fields.  But,  unlike  Holland,  Cape  May  had  dense  forests  of 
varied  timber  near  the  shores,  for  the  countless  hulls  of  navies,  such  as 
the  world  had  never  seen,  and  beyond,  yet  near,  interminable  swamps 
where  the  giant  cedars  towered, — an  arsenal  of  imperishable  planks 
and  spars  to  equip  every  craft,  though  each  of  them  were  more  huge 
than  ever  sailed  the  Texel,  or  startled  the  dreams  of  shipwrights  beside 
the  Zuyder  Zee.  The  waters  swarmed  with  fish  :  the  whale,  the  por 
poise,  the  sturgeon,  and  the  cod  abounded;  besides,  there  were  black 
fish,  blue  fish,  "green"  fish,  "silver"  fish,  and  "variegated"  fish  ;  there 
were  mackerel,  gar-fish,  drum,  bass,  perch,  herrings,  flounders,  turbots, 
soles,  eels,  anchovies,  mullets,  porgies,  smelts,  and  shiners,  all  affording 
"  an  ocean  full"  of  excellent  food;  then  there  was  also  the  flying-fish, 
and  scores  of  other  varieties  more  curious  than  eatable. 

There  is  no  historic  evidence  that  Gillis  Hossett  or  the  mariner  Peter 
Heyes  tarried  to  catch  all  these  kinds  of  fish;  if  not,  it  was  their  own 
fault;  the  fish  were  there,  and  one  summer,  just  two  and  a  quarter  cen 
turies  later,  Secretary  Spencer  F.  Baird,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute, 
caught  them  all  except  the  whale,  the  sturgeon,  the  porpoise,  and  the 
cod-fish,  in  the  waters  near  Cape  May;  moreover,  any  visitor  of  Sea 
Grove  may  have  the  same  pleasure.  The  whale  rarely  visits  the  Dela 
ware  now;  the  porpoise  still  rolls  lazily  against  the  tide,  but  the  stur 
geon  are  comparatively  few;  yet  if  any  transient  dweller  by  the  sea 
despises  the  capture  of  the  smaller  fry,  and  aspires  to  wage  war  upon 
veritable  monsters  of  the  deep,  he  can,  by  taking  passage  for  deep 
water  on  the  yacht  of  the  Sea  Grove  Association,  not  only  enjoy  a  trip 
over  genuine  ocean  billows,  but  may,  if  favored  by  St.  Peter,  return 
with  "  a  string"  of  sharks,  and  an  appetite  like  that  of  the  marine  out 
law  he  captures. 

At  the  time  of  Godyn's  purchases,  the  marshes  of  Cape  May  were 
much  more  extensive,  and  the  sounds  and  thoroughfares  larger.  The 
explorer  found  the  inland  waters  of  Cape  May  abounding  with  fine 
oysters,  clams,  crabs,  and  other  shell-fish,  as  at  present.  The  marshes 
around  the  sounds,  and  the  savannas  or  slashes  between  the  sandy 
beaches,  were  the  haunts  of  countless  water-fowl,  some  remarkable  for 
their  large  size  and  notable  appearance,  while  many  of  various  kinds 
were  estimable  as  game  birds  and  known  to  the  natives  then  as  deli 
cious  delicacies,  as  well  as  to  the  sportsman  and  bon  vivant  of  the 
present.  In  their  proper  season  the  Canada  geese  were  immensely 
numerous,  and  their  habitual  resorts  were  also  frequented  by  more  than 
two  dozen  varieties  of  duck  and  plover,  in  flocks  or  pairs,  by  tens  of 
thousands;  among  them  was  the  world-renowned  "canvas-back"  (Anas 
valisncria}.  The  meadows,  marshes,  and  shores  were  overrun  by  snipe 
and  loons,  woodcock,  rail,  curlew,  bitterns,  herons,  sand-pipers,  and  tern. 
Eagles,  cormorants,  hawks,  gulls,  and  other  fish-loving  varieties  of  birds 


UPLAND  BIRDS   OF  CAPE  MAY.  !9 

hovered  over  the  waves  and  the  quiet  waters  for  prey,  or,  pirate-like, 
plundered  others  of  the  scaly  prize.  On  the  uplands  the  variety  of 
birds  was  vastly  greater — quite  too  numerous  to  mention  outside  of 
scientific  catalogue.  The  bald  eagle,  and  ten  or  a  dozen  kind  of  hawks, 
half  as  many  owls,  and  eight  or  ten  kinds  of  fly-catchers  exercised  their 
capacity  upon  their  varied  and  proper  game  ;  while  the  turkey-buzzard, 
with  the  help  of  several  kinds  of  crows,  was  the  common  scavenger  of 
the  land. 

Master  Evelyn,  William  Penn,  and  others  mention  wild  turkeys  of 
the  Delaware  country  which  weighed  from  forty-five  to  fifty  pounds. 
Grouse,  partridges,  pigeons,  doves,  and  robins  were  abundant.  Of  birds 
of  song  there  was  no  lack.  There  were  fourteen  kinds  of  warblers ; 
there  were  thrushes,  larks,  vieros,  finches,  sparrows,  orioles,  bobolinks, 
blackbirds,  blue  jays,  cuckoos,  and  mocking  birds,  with  hosts  of  others 
more  or  less  musical.  Of  birds  remarkable  for  plumage  there  were 
many  fine  species.  The  great  blue,  white,  and  snowy  herons,  and  some 
of  the  ducks,  were  very  handsome.  The  snowy  owl,  well  named,  was 
a  choice  specimen,  while  red  birds,  yellow  birds,  blue  birds,  scarlet 
birds,  indigo  birds,  golden  birds,  and  numerous  party-colored  birds,  lent 
animation  to  the  woods. 

Besides  all  these,  the  humming  bird,  bright  flashing  gem  of  the  air, 
bred  at  Cape  May.  Since  the  advent  of  white  men  upon  the  coast 
some  varieties  of  birds  have  almost  or  quite  disappeared,  yet  no  locality 
in  the  United  States  surpasses  Sea  Grove  and  its  vicinity  in  advantages 
for  the  naturalist.  The  distinguished  American  ornithologist,  Wilson, 
resided  during  different  seasons  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cape  May. 
At  such  times  he  was  the  guest  of  the  elder  Thomas  Beesley,  of  Bees- 
ley's  Point,  and  his  visits  are  yet  remembered  by  some  of  the  oldest 
people.  Thomas  Beesley  declares,  in  a  too  brief  note  to  one  of  his 
scientific  contributions,  that  the  interest  awakened  there  by  Wilson  in 
the  study  of  ornithology  has  never  ceased.  To  that  interest  and  a 
lively  intelligence  are  to  be  credited  the  catalogue  of  birds  and  beasts 
which  Thomas  Beesley  has  added  to  the  natural  science  of  his  native 
county,  and  the  fact  that  "  Beesley's  Point"  has  become  one  of  the 
important  centres  of  scientific  interest  in  South  Jersey.  It  is  a  legend 
that  birds  choose  for  their  habitat  the  most  favorable  and  pleasant 
lands — the  fairest  scenes.  Upon  this  point  Thomas  Beesley,  in  a  note 
to  his  catalogue  of  Cape  May  birds,  quotes  a  citizen  of  Cape  May  as 
saying,  "  If  birds  in  their  choice  of  a  residence  are  gifted  in  deter 
mining  what  is  the  fairest  and  what  is  best,  there  can  be  no  question 
but  that  the  County  of  Cape  May  is  among  the  most  attractive  portions 
of  the  earth;  for  here  they  congregate  in  as  great  a  variety  and  abund 
ance  as  upon  any  other  portion  of  at  least  the  civilized  globe." 

The  intermediate  latitude  of  Cape  May  and  its  consequent  equable 
climate,  with  an  uncommon  distribution  of  ocean,  sound,  lake,  river, 


20  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

swamp,  thicket,  wood,  marsh,  and  meadow,  afford  varied  attractions 
to  the  denizens  of  the  air.  Birds  of  the  north  and  of  the  south,  with 
many  a  feathered  beauty  "to  the  manor  born,"  there  congregate  and 
dwell,  or  visit  the  scene  on  flashing  wing  with  tumultuous  song  one 
after  another,  as  the  passing  year  rolls  its  changing  glories  through 
the  sky.  To  the  plodding  pot-hunter  the  birds  of  Cape  May  supply 
—his  dinner;  to  the  sportsman,  choice  and  abundant  game;  to  the 
naturalist,  an  unequaled  field  of  study;  to  the  artist,  forms  and  hues 
of  beauty;  to  the  invalid,  cheer  and  diversion;  to  all,  a  song;  to  the 
thoughtful  and  pious  soul,  most — bright  examples  of  nature's  handi 
work,  a  joyous  testimony  to  the  universal  providence  of  God! 

The  pioneers  of  Cape  May  were  very  practical  persons,  men  who 
would  turn  away  from  the  finest  display  of  plumage  and  the  sweetest 
song  to  capture  a  good  fat  goose  or  pursue  the  woodland  creatures  for 
their  skins;  hunting  for  fur-bearing  animals  in  South  Jersey  over  two 
centuries  ago,  they  could  hardly  go  amiss.  The  bison  or  buffalo,  the 
black  bear,  the  panther,  the  wolf,  the  catamount,  and  the  deer,  were 
the  largest  of  the  wild  beasts  of  Cape  May;  of  the  smaller  species  there 
were  opossums,  raccoons,  foxes,  minks,  otters,  and,  most  valuable  of 
all,  the  beaver.  Some  half-dozen  kinds  of  squirrels  filled  the  trees, 
musk  rats  infested  the  streams,  rabbits  were  plenty,  and  the  skunks,  in 
bad  odor,  were  numerous,  waiting  a  change  of  fashion  to  give  value  to 
their  handsome  pelt.  Twenty  years  ago  a  half-dozen  black  bears  in 
an  autumn  would  perchance  be  killed  in  the  Cape  May  County  swamps, 
a  few  deer  would  also  be  taken;  the  beaver  is  probably  extinct;  the 
opossum,  the  raccoon,  the  rabbit,  the  pclecat,  the  squirrel,  the  otter, 
and  an  occasional  fox  are  the  remaining  animals  of  Cape  May. 

The  agents  of  the  Dutch  patroons  gave  little  attention  to  the 
flowers  which  adorned  the  lands  they  bought,  yet  a  botanist  would 
have  gathered  them  with  delight.  The  same  causes  which  make  Cape 
May  the  resort  of  the  ornithologist  and  ichthyologist  have  rendered  all 
South  Jersey  a  vast  botanical  garden  famous  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  some  of  its  plants  being  peculiar  and  local.  In  1748  and 
1749  Peter  Kalm,  botanist  to  the  King  of  Sweden,  made  a  collection 
in  South  Jersey,  the  sight  of  which  made  Linnaeus  forget  an  attack  of 
gout;  the  Kalmia,  a  species  of  laurel,  was  so  called  by  Linnaeus  in 
honor  of  Kalm.  As  recent  authorities  in  the  botany  of  South  Jersey, 
Maurice  Beesley,  M.D.,  Samuel  Ashmead,  and  Mary  Treat,  of  Vine- 
land,  have  been  extensively  quoted. 

§  The  aboriginal  Indian  was  a  savage  and  a  pagan;  the  mistake  of 
most  Christian  colonists  was  to  consider  themselves  saints,  and  the 
red  man  a  natural  devil.  The  valleys  of  the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill 
were  inhabited  at  the  time  of  the  Dutch  settlements  by  the  tribe  of 
Lenni  Lenape,  a  name  which  signified  "the  original  people."  The 
Lenni  Lenape  were  divided  into  Mantaunaks  or  Delawares,  and 


LENNI  LENA  PR  SEW  AN.  21 

Muncees,  Munseys,  or  Mincees;  the  last  lived  above  the  Sankitan, 
Stankekan,  oc  Sanhickan  falls,  near  Trenton,  and  toward  the  Hudson. 
The  Lenni  Lenape  were  a  superior  tribe;  they  came  from  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  and  conquered  their  way  to  the  Atlantic.  Subsequently, 
by  the  terms  of  a  treaty  made  with  the  Hodensaunee  Konoshion,  or 
Iroquois  Confederation,  they  abandoned  war,  becoming  "women,"  that 
is  to  say,  non-combatants,  and,  as  the  Indian  matrons  were,  referees  and 
peacemakers.  Hendrick  Aupaumut,  chief  of  the  Muheconuck,  Mohican, 
or  Mohegan  tribe,  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  in  his  report  of  his 
mission  as  the  embassador  of  the  United  States  to  the  Western  tribes 
(Mem.  Hist.  Soc.  Pa.,  vol.  n.),  calls  the  Delawares  "Grandfathers," 
and  adds  that  the  British  and  Five  Nations  depended  upon  them  to 
make  peace,  as  "  this  nation  had  the  greatest  influence  with  the  South 
ern,  Western,  and  Northern  nations;"  also  that  the  Lenni  Lenape,  since 
about  1600,  had  been  grandfathers  or  "wise  ones,"  to  whom  the  tribes 
looked  as  judges  in  arbitration. 

The  general  traits  of  American  Indians,  aside  from  the  usages  of 
war,  characterized  the  Lenni  Lenape;  one  notable  habit  of  theirs  was 
peculiar  to  such  tribes  as  inhabited  the  shores  of  New  Jersey  and 
New  York,  or  lived  elsewhere  near  localities  like  Cape  May.  The 
Indians  used  no  salt,  but  preserved  their  fish  and  meats  by  drying  and 
smoking;  at  the  shore  they  boiled,  strung,  and  dried  clams,  which  were 
used  to  season  their  insipid  fare.  The  manufacture  of  this  Indian 
delicacy  left  behind  an  immense  quantity  of  shells,  those  of  the  common 
clam,  the  Venus  mercenaria,  which  the  Indians  called  Pequonuck  or 
Quahaug.  These  shells,  in  a  broken  state,  are  to  be  found  in  great 
heaps  on  the  shores  of  the  sounds  and  water-courses  in  the  vicinity 
of  Sea  Grove.  The  fragmentary  condition  of  the  shells  distinguishes 
the  shell  heaps  of  Indian  creation  from  the  beds  and  mounds  of  shells 
which  owe  their  origin  to  natural  causes,  or  to  the  bivalve-consuming 
propensities  of  white  men.  The  Indian  resorted  to  the  shore  of  the 
Atlantic,  not  alone  for  health  and  comfort,  but  to  make  money.  Near 
Sea  Grove,  as  on  the  shores  of  Sewan-hacky  (Sewan-land),  Long 
Island,  New  York,  an  aboriginal  "mint"  was  kept  in  operation,  and 
the  circulating  medium  of  exchange  there  issued  was  current  at  a  fixed 
value  all  over  the  continent.  This  Indian  money  was  called  variously 
sewan,  suckauhock,  wampum,  wampompeague,  peague,  etc.,  and  was 
coined  in  the  form  of  beads,  from  shells,  and  strung  on  strings  some 
what  after  the  manner  of  Chinese  "cash." 

There  were  two  kinds  of  sewan.  The  black — "  the  gold  of  the  In 
dians" — was  made  from  the  black  portion  of  the  clam-shells,  and  called 
suckauhock.  It  was  rated  at  double  the  value  of  the  white,  called 
wampum,  which  was  made  from  the  stem  of  the  periwinkle  (Ltttorince)\ 
hence  the  shell  heaps  the  Indians  have  left  along  the  shore  of  Cape 
May  contain  mostly  the  white  part  of  clam-shells,  broken  in  small 


22  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

pieces  to  secure  the  black  and  valuable  portions.  Aside  from  the  color 
of  the  wampum,  it- was  criticised  by  the  natives  as  to  its  form  and 
finish,  and  the  usages  of  aboriginal  commerce  required  that  the  beads 
should  be  uniform  in  size  and  shape,  and  bored  in  the  centre.  To  test 
sewan,  the  Indians  drew  the  strings  of  beads  deftly  across  their  noses; 
if  they  found  them  smooth,  uniform,  and  well  strung,  they  passed  at 
par;  the  worn  or  imperfect  were  discounted  or  rejected.  The  sewan 
was  used  not  only  as  currency,  but  as  jewelry  and  material  for  orna 
mentation.  "  The  Dutch,  at  Albany,"  says  Kalm,  "  made  and  sold  a 
great  deal  of  sewan  in  their  extensive  trade  with  the  Five  Nations. 
There  were  at  one  time  sixty  or  seventy  shops  in  Albany  where  sewan 
was  made,  and  the  Iroquois  called  the  town  Laaphanachking, — i.e.,  "the 
place  of  stringing  wampum."  Sewan  was  also  made  in  other  places, 
"by  poor  people,"  and  the  Indians  suffered  the  inconvenience  of  "an 
inflated  currency"  after  a  time.  The  New  Netherlands  accepted  sewan 
in  trade  themselves,  good  wampum  being  in  some  colonies  as  current 
as  silver;  it  was  voted  "to  goe  six  a  penny  in  New  Haven  in  1640." 
Sewan,  or  wampum,  was  the  currency  of  New  Netherlands  in  1641  ; 
afterwards  the  contributions  to  the  churches  were  paid  in  it.  At  New 
Amsterdam  "  four  beads  of  good  black,  well-strung  wampum,  or  eight 
of  the  white,"  were  reckoned  as  one  stuyver, — a  Dutch  coin  about  a 
cent  in  value.  In  1650,  "  there  being  at  present  no  other  specie,"  sewan 
was  made  lawfully  current,  at  the  rate  of  three  black  or  six  white  beads 
of  "commercial  sewan,"  or  four  black  and  six  white  of  the  "base 
strung,"  for  one  stuyver,  the  rate  ordered  "  to  goe"  in  Nieu  Haven.  By 
this  the  drain  of  "  specie"  into  New  England  was  checked. 

The  Indian  had  no  banks,  and  was  innocent  of  "  corners,"  "  bonuses," 
"  divvies,"  brokerages,  commissions,  margins,  "  puts  and  calls,"  and 
"  irregularities,"  yet  he  was  a  financier  in  his  way,  and  managed  "ex 
change"  for  his  own  benefit.  In  heavy  transactions,  sewan,  either 
suckauhock  or  wampum,  was  counted  by  the  fathom,  measured  by  the 
spread  arms  of  an  Indian.  Commissary  Hudde,  of  Fort  Nassau,  in 
1648,  complained  that  the  Cape  May  tribe  made  barter  "rather  too 
much  against  them,"  as  "  the  Indians  always  take  the  largest  and  tallest 
among  them  to  trade  with  us,"  by  which  means  the  long-armed  "tel 
lers"  compassed  a  long  price  for  their  clansmen's  beaver-skins. 

"  In  1756,"  says  Dr.  Beesley,  "  Jacob  Spicer,  of  Cape  May,  advertised 
to  barter  goods  for  all  kinds  of  produce  and  commodities,  and,  among 
the  rest,  particularly  designated  wampum  (suckauhock).  He  offered  a 
reward  of  five  pounds  to  the  person  that  should  manufacture  the  most 
wampum.  He  succeeded  in  procuring  a  quantity  of  the  wampum,  and, 
before  sending  it  off  to  Albany  and  a  market,  weighed  a  shot-bag  full 
of  silver  coin,  and  the  same  shot-bag  full  of  wampum,  and  found  the 
latter  (by  weight)  most  valuable  by  ten  per  cent."  After  the  fall  of 
Oswego  he  chronicles  the  decline  of  the  wampum  traffic.  The  Narra- 


DE    VRIES' S  FIRST   VOYAGE    TO    THE  DELAWARE.          23 

gansetts  and  Pequods,  who  were  able  to  produce  sewan  on  their  shores, 
kept  themselves  rich  and  powerful  by  the  possession  and  use  of  it. 
The  Cape  May  Indians  held  similar  advantages,  and  the  accumulated 
refuse  of  their  work  shows  that  they  were  not  neglectful  of  their  op 
portunities. 

Such,  two  and  a  half  centuries  ago,  were  the  people,  such  the  sur 
roundings,  among  which  lay  the  assumed  territories  of  the  High  and 
Mighty  Dutch  West  India  Company,  and  the  intended  manors  of  the 
would-be  patroons,  Godyn  and  Blommaert. 

§  The  unfair  advantage  Godyn,  Blommaert,  and  a  few  others  had 
conspired  to  take  of  the  Charter  of  Privileges  and  Exemptions  gave 
great  offense,  and  partisan  feeling  became  bitter  against  the  patroons 
and  those  who  defended  their  claims.  Director-General  Minuit,  who 
was  cognizant  of  the  operations  of  the  patroons,  was  recalled  from  his 
office,  but  Minuit  had  simply  carried  out  the  laws  and  orders  of  the 
company.  Sensible  of  the  injustice  done  him,  Minuit  transferred  his 
authority  to  the  Manhattan  Council,  and  sailed  for  Holland  to  vindi 
cate  himself,  in  March,  1632,  bearing  with  him  not  only  his  own  trou 
bles,  but  sad  news  for  the  patroons  and  the  friends  of  the  colonists  at 
Swaanendael. 

The  first  accounts  from  Swaanendael  received  by  the  patroons,  some 
time  after  the  Walvis  left  that  colony,  reported  that  all  had  been  well, 
and  that  the  colony  was  pleasantly  prosperous.  The  ill  luck  of  the 
Walvis  had  discouraged  the  proprietors  somewhat,  but  Godyn  was  still 
sanguine  about  the  whale  fishery,  and,  in  February,  1632,  it  was  agreed 
that  a  ship  and  yacht  should  be  fitted  out,  with  De  Vries  himself  as 
patroon  and  commander,  to  fish  in  the  South  Bay  during  the  winter  of 
1633.  This  ship  and  the  yacht  Squirrel  were  accordingly  fitted  out  for 
a  whaling  voyage,  and  were  ready  to  sail  the  last  of  May.  On  the  24th 
of  May,  just  before  De  Vries  got  off,  news  was  received  at  Amsterdam, 
having  been  brought  by  Director-General  Minuit,  by  the  way  of  Ports 
mouth,  that  Swaanendael  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Indians. 

De  Vries,  though  distressed  by  the  news,  put  to  sea,  but  an  unskill 
ful  pilot  ran  his  ship  on  the  sands  off  Dunkirk;  she  with  difficulty  got 
into  Portsmouth  the  25th  of  May.  The  ship  was  made  seaworthy, 
and  sailed  the  1st  of  August,  in  company  with  the  great  ship  "  New 
Netherland,  of  six  or  eight  hundred  tunnes,"  which  had  been  built  at 
Manhattan,  in  1631,  and  was  then  returning  from  her  first  voyage  to 
Holland. 

De  Vries  arrived  on  December  5th,  in  the  offing  of  Godyn's  Baai. 
As  he  neared  the  coast  he  saw  no  beacon  kindled  to  give  warning  of 
his  approach  ;  he  heard  no  resounding  and  reassuring  gun  ;  no  signal 
waved  to  denote  his  looked-for  arrival,  and  give  the  sign  for  joyous 
welcome.  An  ominous  silence  brooded  everywhere, — only  the  waves 
dashed  mournfully,  and  the  tall  cedars  soughed  in  the  blast  of  Decem- 


24  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

her,  as  if  they  chanted  a  requiem.  No  Indians  appearing,  a  well-armed 
boat  was  sent  into  the  Horekill  the  next  day,  to  open  communication. 
Finding  none  of  the  savages  about,  the  boat  pushed  on,  and  landed  at 
Swaanendael,  where  discoveries  were  soon  made  which  justified  the 
worst  apprehensions  of  De  Vries.  The  colony  had  disappeared, — 
buildings,  gardens,  plantations,  fishing-stations,  whale-boats,  all  were 
gone.  Only  ashes  and  fire-blasted  ruins  remained,  surrounded  by  the 
wolf-gnawed  and  bleaching  bones  of  his  comrades  and  servants. 

In  despondency  De  Vries  returned  to  his  yacht,  and  a  gun  was  fired 
to  call  in  the  Indians.  The  next  morning  a  smoke  was  seen  arising 
from  near  the  ruins  of  Swaanendael.  The  boat  went  into  the  creek, 
and  a  few  of  the  savages  were  seen  prowling  about.  They  were  shy, 
and  the  crew  of  the  boat  distrustful.  The  yacht  gave  more  protection 
from  treacherous  arrows  than  the  open  boat,  and  so  De  Vries  ran  her 
into  the  creek.  The  Indians  soon  came  to  the  shore,  but  for  some 
time  none  could  be  persuaded  to  come  on  board.  Finally  one  venture 
some  fellow  made  bold  to  dare  the  vengeance  of  the  Sivannckins,  and 
came  alone  among  the  Dutch.  De  Vries  gave  him  a  "  cloth  dress," 
and  sent  word  by  him  to  his  chief  that  he  wished  to  make  a  peace. 
The  Indians  at  once  became  more  familiar,  and  that  night  one  of  them 
stayed  on  board,  and  was  induced  to  give  the  particulars  of  the  tragic 
fate  of  the  colony. 

According  to  the  story  of  the  Indian  on  the  yacht,  Gillis  Hossett  had 
considered  it  requisite  to  post  the  arms  of  Holland,  painted  on  a  sheet 
of  tin,  by  attaching  them  to  a  pillar  he  set  up,  the  site  of  which  the 
Indian  pointed  out.  An  Indian,  attracted  by  the  sheen  of  the  metal, 
"  not  thinking  he  was  doing  amiss,"  carefully  removed  the  shield  for 
his  own  purpose.  Hossett  took  much  to  heart  the  insult  to  the  Bata- 
vian  Republic,  and  angrily  denounced  the  tribe  for  the  offense  of  a 
person,  as  if  it  were  some  mighty  matter.  It  was  a  great  fuss  to  make 
about  a  bit  of  tin,  but  the  Indians  took  it  for  earnest,  and  soon  pre 
sented  Hossett  the  scalp  of  the  culprit,  to  his  avowed  astonishment, 
chagrin,  and  disgust. 

Rebuked,  humbled,  thrown  off,  hurt  in  feeling,  the  jealous,  vindictive 
sons  of  the  forest  returned  to  their  wigwams,  but  not  to  live  in  peace. 
The  Indians  had  a  custom  like  that  of  the  Jews,  in  "the  avenger  of 
blood."  If  a  relative  were  slain,  it  was  an  obligation  to  avenge  his  fall 
unless  "  atonement"  were  made  by  the  offender.  This  could  be  done 
by  his  paying,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  "  blood-money," 
to  "  cover  the  graves  of  the  dead." 

"  If  a  brother  bleed, 
On  just  atonement  we  remit  the  deed  ; 
A  sire  the  slaughter  of  his  son  forgives, 
The  price  of  blood  discharged,  the  murderer  lives." 

(POPE:   Iliad,  ix.) 


THE  FATE   OF  SWAANENDAEL.  2$ 

The  Indian  who  had  been  killed  at  Swaanendael  was  a  sachem, — 
vengeance  could  not  be  allowed  to  sleep.  The  aggrieved  Indians  held 
Hossett  accountable  as  the  cause  of  the  murder,  still  he  could  at  any 
time  have  purchased  exemption  for  a  few  guilders'  worth  of  goods; 
this  he  unwisely  neglected  to  do,  and  was  accordingly  condemned  to 
die,  and  the  colony  that  harbored  him  was  to  share  his  fate. 

One  day  Hossett  was  sick  and  remained  in  the  house,  but  one  of  his 
men,  a  housekeeper,  being  with  him,  when  a  lurking  war  party  of 
Indians  came  near  the  place.  In  the  yard  a  large  bull-dog,  or  Dutch 
mastiff,  was  chained  ;  had  he  been  loose,  they  would  not  have  dared 
approach  the  house.  Suddenly  three  Indians  presented  themselves, 
and  offered  a  small  lot  of  beaver-skins  for  sale.  Learning  that  no 
others  were  near,  they  set  upon  Hossett  and  his  servant  and  killed 
them  at  once.  With  the  dog,  "  which  they  feared  most,"  they  had  more 
trouble,  and  the  Indian  related  with  wonder  and  admiration  that  the 
brave  guardian  of  the  threshold  never  ceased  to  fight,  and  died  only 
when  pierced  by  twenty-five  arrows.  But  for  his  chain,  as  they  knew, 
the  Dutch  mastiff  would  have  taught  the  bloody  savages  the  difference 
between  a  dog  of  his  breed  and  keep  and  one  of  their  own  skulking, 
mangy  little  curs.  The  men  of  the  colony  were  at  work  in  the 
adjacent  gardens  and  cornfields ;  they  were  approached  in  a  friendly 
manner,  and  a  treacherous  attack  made  upon  them.  Whatever  of 
courage  they  manifested,  whatever  of  desperate  heroism  (for  the 
Dutch  were  brave),  is  unknown,  as  it  was  unavailing;  one  by  one  rap 
idly  they  fell,  far  from  their  beloved  "  Faderlandt,"  among  barbarous 
foes,  perishing  victims  to  the  folly  of  their  Governor  and  the  revenge 
ful  passions  of  cruel  savages. 

Shocked,  saddened,  disappointed,  and  involved  in  financial  loss,  De 
Vries  was  not  discouraged,  and  made  no  useless  attempt  at  revenge. 
The  Indians  were  glad  to  make  a  formal  treaty  of  peace  with  De  Vries, 
which  was  brought  about  by  his  tact  and  coolness  the  following  day. 
Receiving  various  presents,  the  bewildered  Nanticokes  departed  in 
great  joy  to  hunt  for  beaver-skins  to  trade  with  the  prudent  and  reti 
cent  Hollander.  Such  is  the  awful  story  of  the  first  bloodshed  in  the 
settlement  of  Delaware,  and  thus  were  the  possessions  of  the  Dutch 
"  sealed  with  blood,  and  dearly  enough  bought."  To  De  Vries  the 
honor  is  due,  that  from  that  time  war  between  the  races  was  unknown, 
and  bloodshed  extremely  rare  in  all  the  country  round  about  Swaan 
endael. 

Mindful  of  the  plans  and  interests  of  his  partners,  De  Vries  tried  the 
whale  fishery;  he  had  anticipated  "royal  work,"  but,  from  the  imper 
fection  of  their  gear,  the  Dutchmen  were  not  very  successful.  To  eke 
out  his  supplies,  De  Vries,  in  his  yacht,  the  Squirrel,  with  seven  men 
made  a  trip  up  the  Poutaxit,  as  the  Indians  called  Zuydt,  South, 
Godyn's,  or  Delaware  Bay;  and  above  into  the  Lenape-ittuck,  Mack- 


26  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

erish-kitton,  or  Arasapha,  as  the  red  men  had  named  the  Zuydt,  South, 
Godyn's,  Prince  Hendrick's,  or  Delaware  River.  It  was  New  Year 
time,  and  the  Dutch  hoped  to  "  buy  some  beans  of  the  Indians."  The 
bay  and  river  were  full  of  floating  ice  ;  working  his  yacht  through  this, 
De  Vries  came,  on  the  5th  of  January,  to  Fort  Nassau,  finding  none 
but  Indians. 

The  natives  advised  De  Vries  to  go  up  the  Timmer  Kill,  or  Timber 
Kill,  for  his  supplies;  but  a  Sankitan,  or  Stankekan  squaw  warned  the 
Dutch  to  keep  out  of  the  creeks,  or  the  river  Indians  would  murder 
them,  as  they  had  recently  killed  the  crew  of  an  English  shallop,  in 
"  Count  Ernest's  River."  Avoiding  the  creeks,  therefore,  De  Vries 
went  on  up  to  Red  Hook,  or  Mantes.  There  some  forty  Indians  came 
on  board,  offering  to  barter  beaver  skins,  and  "playing  on  reeds  to 
allay  suspicion."  Unaware  that  the  Dutch  were  informed  of  their 
murder  of  the  English  crew,  some  of  them  wore  the  jackets  of  the 
men  they  had  butchered.  De  Vries  told  them  their  "  Maneto"  had 
revealed  their  treacherous  plans  to  him,  and,  driving  them  all  on  shore, 
returned  to  Fort  Nassau.  There  several  chiefs  came  on  board  the 
yacht,  some  of  whom  had  worn  the  jackets  at  Red  Hook,  but  now 
they  were  dressed  in  robes  of  fur.  The  Indians  sat  down  in  a  solemn 
circle  on  the  deck,  and  stated  they  had  come  to  make  a  long  peace  ; 
a  long  ceremony,  during  which  ten  beaver-skins  were  presented,  one 
after  another,  by  the  Indians,  ratified  the  formal  compact.  For  the  skins 
presented  in  their  ceremonies  the  Indians  refused  any  compensation 
whatever.  De  Vries,  however,  bought  other  beaver-skins,  and,  procur 
ing  a  small  supply  of  corn  and  beans,  sailed  for  his  ship,  and  was  on 
board  the  1 3th  of  the  mon-th. 

Five  days  after,  De  Vries  again  started  to  coast  along  the  shore  and 
visit  Fort  Nassau.  On  the  way  he  was  a  fortnight  frozen  into  "  Vine 
yard  Creek,"  where  the  Dutch  shot  a  multitude  of  turkeys,  "weighing 
from  thirty  to  thirty-six  pounds"  each.  It  was  the  3d  of  February 
before  the  yacht  could  be  got  up  to  its  destination.  By  that  time  a  war 
had  broken  out  between  the  Minquas  and  the  Sankitans,  and  no  corn 
could  be  had.  After  much  trouble  from  the  ice,  the  yacht  was  got  back 
to  the  ship,  where  a  joyous  welcome  was  given  the  long  absent  and 
adventurous  voyagers  by  their  anxious  shipmates. 

Still  short  of  provisions,  and  ambitious  to  be  the  first  Hollander  to 
visit  the  Chesapeake,  De  Vries  sailed  on  the  5th  of  March  for  Virginia. 
He  visited  Sir  John  Harvey,  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  was  courteously 
entertained  by  that  noble  knight.  De  Vries  made  Governor  Harvey 
acquainted  with  the  Dutch  operations  on  the  Delaware,  and  was  able 
to  identify  the  English  crew  whose  murder  he  had  heard  of  at  Fort 
Nassau  as  one  of  eight  men  which  Governor  Harvey  had  sent  the 
previous  September  into  the  Delaware,  in  a  sloop,  "to  see  if  there  was 
a  river  there."  The  Governor  imagined  his  men  "  to  have  been  swal- 


THE  FIRST  HOUSE  IN  PHILADELPHIA.  2/ 

lowed  up  in  the  sea,"  having  heard  nothing  from  them  until  the  sad 
news  by  De  Vries  made  him  acquainted  with  their  fate.  The  patroon 
of  Swaanendael  and  Cape  May  remained  a  week  at  Jamestown,  and 
then,  with  an  abundant  supply  of  provisions,  and  a  present  of  goats  for 
Manhattan,  where  Governor  Harvey  had  heard  there  were  none,  he 
returned  to  his  fishermen  in  Zuydt  Baai. 

Once  more  warmly  welcomed  by  his  company,  the  patroon  learned 
that  several  whales  had  been  captured,  but  more  lost  after  being  struck, 
the  harpoons  being  defective.  De  Vries  had,  however,  become  satisfied 
that  the  whale  fishery  was  less  profitable  than  the  fur  trade,  and  pro 
posed  to  carry  out  his  original  intention  of  a  voyage  to  Newfoundland 
and  the  Saint  Lawrence  for  fish  and  peltries.  Wishing  to  examine  the 
coast,  De  Vries  sailed  on  board  his  yacht  for  Manhattan  the  I4th  of 
April,  and,  coasting  northward  for  two  days,  arrived  safely  at  Fort  Am 
sterdam,  leaving  Swaanendael,  Godyn's  Baai,  and  the  Arasapha  once 
more  to  the  whales,  the  savages,  and  the  aboriginal  wildncss  of  nature. 

§  When  De  Vries  arrived  in  New  Amsterdam,  on  the  i6th  of 
April,  1633,  he  found  the  new  Director-General,  Wouter  Van  Twiller, 
on  board  the  ship  Soutberg,  which  had  just  arrived  in  the  harbor. 
The  information  which  De  Vries  gave  Van  Twiller  aroused  him  to  take 
measures  to  hold  possession  of  Zuydt  Baai,  and  the  fur  trade  in  the 
country  adjoining;  accordingly  Arendt  Corssen  was  appointed  com 
missary,  and  instructed  to  purchase  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Schuylkill 
for  a  plantation  and  trading  post,  for  both  of  which  purposes  the  loca 
tion  there  was  highly  esteemed.  Corssen  bought  "  for  certain  cargoes," 
from  "the  right  owners  and  Indian  chiefs,"  a  tract  called  "  Armen- 
veruis,"  lying  about  and  on  the  Schuylkill.  The  Indian  title  being 
thus  secuned,  the  Dutch  took  formal  possession  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
established  a  trading  house  there,  which,  though  soon  abandoned  for  a 
time,  was  afterwards  enlarged  to  a  post  or  station  and  called  Bevers- 
rede,  being  situated  within  the  present  bounds  of  Philadelphia. 

Among  the  improvements  ordered  by  Van  Twiller  for  the  year  1633 
was  "  one  large  house,"  to  be  built  at  Fort  Nassau  on  the'  Delaware. 
The  work  must  have  been  neglected,  for  in  1635  a  small  party  of  Eng 
lish  from  Point  Comfort,  Va.,  under  the  leadership  of  Captain  George 
Holmes,  and,  as  some  have  said,  in  the  interest  of  Sir  Edmund  Plowden 
and  his  associates,  took  possession  of  Fort  Nassau,  which  they  found 
vacant.  Thomas  Hall,  one  of  Holmes's  men,  deserted  at  Fort  Nassau, 
and,  reaching  Manhattan,  gave  information  to  Van  Twiller.  A  Dutch 
force  soon  captured  Holmes  and  his  party,  and  took  them  to  Fort 
Amsterdam,  from  whence  they  were  serft,  "  pack  and  baggage,"  back  to 
Virginia.  The  Dutch,  after  the  affair  with  Holmes,  repaired  and  gar 
risoned  Fort  Nassau,  and  gave  more  attention  to  the  valley  of  the  Dela 
ware.  The  administration  of  Wouter  Van  Twiller  ended  early  in  the 
spring  of  1638,  he  being  superseded  by  William  Kieft. 


28  SCHEYICHBI  AND   THE  STRAND. 

§  Although  the  Dutch  were  the  first  to  "occupy"  the  Delaware, 
Governor  Sir  John  Harvey,  of  Virginia,  had  sent  an  unfortunate  expe 
dition  there  in  1632;  and  before  the  patent  for  Maryland  was  sealed 
that  year,  Sir  John  Lawrence,  Sir  Edmund  Plowden,  and  others  applied 
to  King  Charles  I.,  of  England,  for  a  grant  of  Long  Island  and  thirty 
miles  square  on  the  mainland,  which  they  proposed  to  call  "  Syon." 
After  the  death  of  the  first  Lord  Baltimore,  before  the  full  execution 
of  the  formalities  of  the  grant  of  Maryland  made  to  him,  Plowden  and 
his  associates  made  a  second  application  ;  this  time  asking  for  Long 
Island,  and  the  small  isles  between  the  thirtieth  and  fortieth  degrees  of 
north  latitude,  within  six  leagues  from  the  mainland  near  Delaware  Bay, 
and  forty  leagues  square  of  the  adjoining  coast;  to  be  held  as  a  County 
Palatine,  and  called  New  Albion,  "  with  the  privileges  as  heretofore 
granted  to  Sir  George  Calvert,  late  Lord  Baltimore,  in  Newfoundland." 
The  king  confirmed  the  grant  made  Lord  Baltimore  to  his  son  and 
heir,  but  one  month  after  the  sealing  of  the  Maryland  patent  the  king 
(says  Neill),  on  July  24th,  1632,  ordered  Sir  John  Coke  to  issue  a  patent 
for  Long  Island  and  the  adjacent  country  to  Plowden  and  his  asso 
ciates. 

On  the  23d  of  September,  1633,  Captain  Thomas  Young,  gentleman, 
received  a  special  commission  from  the  King  of  England  to  organ 
ize  an  expedition  and  explore  in  America.  This  expedition  sailed  in 
the  spring  of  1634,  and  with  it  came  Master  Robert  Evelyn,  Captain 
Young's  nephew,  as  lieutenant.  The  voyage  of  Captain  Young  was 
in  connection  with  the  enterprise  of  Plowden  for  the  settlement  of  New 
Albion,  but  from  stress  of  weather,  or  lack  of  a  pilot,  his  course  led 
him  into  the  Chesapeake;  there  desertion  weakened  the  company,  but 
Young  fitted  out  a  shallop  or  pinnace  at  Jamestown,  in  July,  and 
sailing  to  the  Delaware  with  about  fifteen  men,  established  as  the  head 
quarters  of  New  Albion  a  post  he  called  Eriwomeck,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Schuylkill,  at  Fort  Beversrede,  which  the  Dutch  had  just  aban 
doned.  In  September,  as  has  been  noted,  George  Holmes  seized  for 
the  New  Albion  Company  the  vacant  Fort  Nassau,  from  which  he  was 
soon  ousted  by  the  Dutch.  Lieutenant  or  "  Master"  Robert  Evelyn 
went  to  England,  early  in  1635,  upon  some  errand  from  which  he  soon 
returned;  in  1637,  he  was  appointed  a  surveyor  by  the  Governor  and 
Council  of  Virginia,  but  missed  confirmation;  he  was  afterwards  proxy 
for  St.  George's  Hundred,  in  the  Maryland  Assembly,  but  was  again 
in  England  in  1641.  At  that  time  Evelyn  and  others  published  "  a 
card,"  describing  the  valley  of  the  Delaware  as  a  fine  place,  where  the 
English  had  traded  since  152^,  and  where  Evelyn  himself  had  been 
stationed  for  four  years  with  fifteen  men,  trading  and  exploring  in 
safety.  On  Evelyn's  return  from  England  he  was  commissioned,  June 
23d,  1642,  to  command  and  drill  the  militia,  at  Piscataway,  four 
miles  below  Washington.  The  identity  and  character  of  Evelyn  are 


PLOWDEN  AND   NEW  ALBION. 


29 


important  in  this  history,  as  he  was  the  first  recorded  explorer  and 
geographical  describer  of  Sea  Grove  and  Cape  May,  as  is  elsewhere 
related. 

Captain  Young  continued  his  explorations  about  the  Delaware  for 
about  eighteen  months,  hoping  to  find  there  the  entrance  of  a  passage 
to  India;  he  became  satisfied  of  the  importance  of  the  inland  or  back 
country,  and,  in  1636  or  the  year  after,  returned  to  England  and  asked 
for  himself  and  his  company  a  grant  of  whatever  inland  regions  he 
might  discover  and  explore.  Sir  Edmund  Plovvden  remained  in 
America  until  1648,  trying  to  settle  the  territories  of  New  Albion,  of 
which  he  was  Earl  Palatine;  he  did  not  succeed  in  this,  owing  to  the 
opposition  of  the  Dutch  and  others  along  the  Delaware.  Having  ex 
hausted  his  fortune  during  his  stay  of  "  about  seven  years"  in  this 
country,  Plowden  returned  to  England,  by  the  way  of  New  Amsterdam 
and  Boston,  "  for  supply."  In  London,  in  1648,  under  the  name  of 
Beauchamp  Plantagenet,  Plowden  published  his  "  Description  of  New 
Albion,"  an  inaccurate  pamphlet,  a  copy  of  which  remains  in  the  Phila 
delphia  Library. 

Beyond  elaborating  and  publishing  a  remarkably  liberal,  just,  and 
worthy  plan  of  government,  the  enterprise  of  the  New  Albion  asso 
ciates  achieved  nothing  of  note.  Sir  Edmund  Plowden  himself  was 
the  descendant  of  an  eminent  jurist;  he  was  as  unhappy  in  domestic  life 
as  unfortunate  in  business;  his  wife  Mabel,  daughter  of  Peter  Mariner, 
of  Wanstead,  Hampshire,  England,  left  him  after  a  married  life  of 
twenty-five  years,  alleging  abuse  as  her  cause.  Sir  Edmund  came  to 
Virginia,  and  was  at  Eriwomeck,  as  Earl  Palatine  of  Albion,  in  1642, — 
"the  fort  given  over  by  Captain  Young  and  Master  Evelyn."  He  was 
visited  in  London  by  some  Marylanders  in  1652,  but  he  never  left 
England  again.  Made  poor  by  his  outlay  in  behalf  of  his  scheme  of 
colonization,  Plowden's  fortunes  became  desperate;  he  was  arrested  for 
debt,  and  died  in  the  debtors'  prison  in  1655.  There  is  a  pathos  about 
the  fate  of  the  earnest  Palatine  of  New  Albion,  which  is  made  more 
effective  by  a  statement  of  the  social  ideas  by  which  he  and  his  asso 
ciates  proposed  to  be  governed. 

The  pioneers  of  New  Albion  raised  less  tobacco  and  sold  less  rum 
for  beaver-skins  than  their  neighbors,  but  they  were  the  first  to  com 
prehend  the  vast  width  of  the  continent ;  and  in  evidence  of  their  culture 
and  character,  they  presented  the  world  with  an  illustrious  example  of 
political  sagacity  in  a  model  form  of  free  and  liberal  government. 
While  kings  and  ecclesiastics  conspired  in  Europe  to  enslave  the 
bodies  and  the  souls  of  men,  while  Boston  and  New  Haven  fostered 
despotism,  and  called  it  theocracy,  Roger  Williams,  dividing  his  land 
with  all  who  needed,  founded  a  state  purely  on  the  will  of  the  majority, 
with  God  alone  as  the  Ruler  of  Conscience;  and  Sir  Edmund  Plovvden, 
beside  the  Delaware,  sought  to  establish  a  more  liberal,  wise,  and  perfect 


3o  SCHEY1CHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

organization  of  society  than  the  world  had  ever  known.  Rhode  Island 
became  a  more  complete  " Democracie,"  and  fortunate  Connecticut 
grew  to  love  freedom  by  experience,  but  New  Albion  formulated  the 
principles  of  political  order,  and  put  forward  her  ideal  proposition,  at 
once  and  entire.  Of  little  consequence  now  are  the  "Manors,  dignified 
by  well  chosen  names,  giving  titles  to  each  of  the  Earl's  family";  of 
less  account,  the  "Albion  Knights  of  the  Conversion  of  the  Twenty- 
three  Kings";  less  still  the  mere  ghost  of  an  established  church, 
barely  provided  for  in  a  document  which  might  have  been  quoted 
as  the  death  warrant  of  state  religions! 

Guarding  against  demagogue  usurpation,  the  institution  of  New 
Albion  enfranchised  the  people,  and  deferred  to  popular  intelligence; 
obedient  to  British  usages,  it  still  insisted  upon  independence  and 
freedom,  and  thereto  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  throne.  Mildness, 
humanity,  and  justice  were  characteristics  of  the  whole  constitution  of 
the  intended  state,  and,  most  glorious  of  all,  entire  religious  freedom 
was  guaranteed;  dissent  was  not  amenable  for  punishment,  and  heresy 
to  be  proceeded  against  only  by  education  ;  with  the  proviso,  that 
"  this  argument  or  persuasion  in  religion,  ceremonies,  or  clnnrli  discipline, 
sliould  be  acted  in  mildness,  love,  charity,  and  gentle  language  /" 

§  As  early  as  1626,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  illustrious  King  of 
Sweden,  the  champion  of  Protestantism  in  his  time,  undertook  to 
found  a  Swedish  colony  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware  ;  this  was  first 
suggested  to  him  by  the  same  William  Usselinx,  of  Holland,  who  in 
1590  proposed  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  to  his  countrymen. 
Usselinx  waited  upon  Gustavus,  and  being  a  learned  man,  unusually 
well  informed  upon  matters  in  America,  he  convinced  the  king  and 
his  nobles  of  the  desirability  of  a  Swedish-American  colony,  and  of 
the  feasibility  of  a  great  Swedish  trading  corporation  to  establish  such 
a  province. 

The  company  was  organized  duly,  "to  trade  to  Asia,  Africa,  and 
the  Straits  of  Magellan,"  and  on  July  2d,  1626,  the  king  issued  an 
edict  at  Stockholm,  "in  which  he  offered  to  people  of  all  conditions 
liberty  of  shares  by  subscription,  according  to  their  ability  or  inclina 
tions.  The  proposal  was  received  with  general  satisfaction,"  say  the 
"  Annals  of  the  Swedes."  Gustavus  took  for  himself  stock  to  the 
amount  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  at  equal  risk.  The  king's 
mother,  and  Prince  John  Cassimir,  his  brother-in-law;  the  members 
of  his  majesty's  council;  many  civil  and  military  officers  of  high  rank; 
the  bishops  and  other  clergymen ;  many  merchants  and  citizens ; 
country  gentlemen  and  farmers,  became  subscribers ;  ships  were  fitted 
out,  and  all  requisites  for  trade  and  a  colony  provided ;  an  admiral, 
vice-admiral,  commissioners,  merchants,  and  other  proper  persons  were 
appointed,  and  a  few  vessels  started  for  America. 

The  Swedish  cannon  were  the  speakers  and  champions  whose  elo- 


GUSTAVUS,  HIS   CANNON  AND    COLONIES.  ^ 

quence  clinched  the  arguments  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation,  and 
recast  the  destinies  of  a  thousand  years;  but  for  Gustavus  and  his 
guns,  the  Protestant  movement  would  have  ended  in  the  beginning. 
This  hero  king  and  philanthropist,  whose  mind  was  as  practical  as  it 
was  comprehensive  and  brilliant,  who  in  defense  of  religious  freedom 
invented  and  victoriously  used  modern  artillery,  was  not  inclined  to 
hesitate  in  an  enterprise  which  he  declared  to  be  "  for  the  benefit  of 
the  persecuted,"  for  the  security  of  "  the  honor  of  the  wives  and 
daughters"  of  those  made  fugitives  by  war  and  bigotry,  for  "  the 
good  of  the  common  man,"  for  the  blessing  of  "the  whole  Protestant 
world,"  and  "  the  advantage  of  all  oppressed  Christendom,"  through 
undue  deference  to  the  dubious  and  conflicting  claims  of  ambitious 
potentates,  or  the  greed  and  avarice  of  monopolizing  corporations. 

Neither  was  the  King  of  Sweden  careful,  like  the  States  General  of 
Hplland,  to  avoid  direct  responsibility  for  colonies.  "Every  inch  a 
king,"  after  the  best  manner  of  his  times,  his  charter  declared  that 
"  politics  lie  beyond  the  profession  of  merchants,"  and  reserved  the 
government  of  all  future  Swedish  colonies  to  a  Royal  Council.  Thus 
the  formidable  cannon  of  Sweden  and  the  invincible  sword  of  Gustavus 
were  pledged  to  the  protection  of  the  emigrant.  The  privileges  of  the 
Swedish  Company  were  open  to  all,  and  colonists  were  invited  from 
every  nation  of  Europe ;  slaves  were  discarded,  as  a  laborious  and 
intelligent  Swedish  population,  with  wives  and  children,  it  was  wisely 
thought,  would  be  quite  as  profitable  and  more  to  the  honor  of  the 
state.  In  Sweden  all  was  in  readiness  for  the  colony,  when,  through 
the  influence  of  the  papal  power,  war  was  provoked,  and  broke  forth 
suddenly.  Gustavus  found  himself  compelled  to  invade  Germany 
"  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  conscience,"  establish  toleration,  and  se 
cure  German  liberty  by  defending  the  principles  of  the  Reformation. 
The  fight  was  for  the  safety  of  Protestant  Christendom.  In  the  emer 
gency  the  funds  of  the  new  trading  company  were,  as  a  military 
necessity,  diverted  for  a  time  to  the  purposes  of  war;  yet  the  king 
abated  not  at  all  his  zeal  for  the  American  enterprise  even  on  the  field 
and  in  camp,  and  from  Nuremberg,  October  i6th,  1632,  he  communi 
cated  to  Oxenstiern,  his  great  minister,  enlarged  and  most  liberal  plans 
for  the  proper  setting  of  that  "jewel  of  his  kingdom,"  even  in  case  of 
his  death. 

At  the  battle  of  Lutzen,  November  3d,  1632,  Gustavus  fell.  His 
death  changed  the  course  of  European  politics;  the  project  of  Swedish 
colonies  was  temporarily  postponed.  The  little  squadron  which  left 
Sweden  for  America,  perhaps  on  private  account,  about  the  time  of  the 
formation  of  the  Swedish  Commercial  Company,  as  Swedish  ships  may 
have  done  before,  was  attacked  at  sea  by  Spaniards,  some  of  the  ships 
being  captured ;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  others  escaped  and 
reached  the  Delaware,  where  their  factors  engaged  in  trade  with  the 


32  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

Indians,  and  that  from  that  time  there  were  always  a  few  Swedes  and 
Finns  in  the  valley,  who  finally  located  among  the  aborigines,  well  up 
the  river. 

Peter  Minuit,  finding  partisan  influence  too  strong  for  justice  in  the 
Dutch  West  India  Company,  visited  Oxenstiern  and  the  court  of 
Sweden,  and  offered  to  conduct  a  Swedish  colony  to  the  unoccupied 
west  shore  of  the  Delaware.  In  the  spring  of  1638,  a  man-of-war, 
named  the  Key  of  Calmar,  and  a  tender,  the  Griffin,  from  Gottenburg, 
Sweden,  with  about  fifty  emigrants,  under  command  of  Peter  Minuit, 
as  Governor  by  commission  of  Queen  Christina,  put  in  at  Jamestown, 
Virginia,  to  "refresh  with  wood  and  water,"  being  bound  for  Delaware 
Bay,  which  is  the  confines  of  Virginia  and  "New  England,"  "to  make  a 
plantation."  The  Treasurer  of  Virginia  desired  to  have  a  copy  of 
Minuit's  commission,  but  the  Swedish  Governor  declined  to  show  his 
charter,  unless  he  could  arrange  for  the  purchase  of  tobacco  for  ship 
ment  to  Sweden  ;  but  the  colonial  laws  of  England  did  not  permit  such 
a  traffic,  and  so  Minuit,  after  spending  ten  days  in  the  Chesapeake, 
pursued  his  voyage,  and  entered  "  Zuydt  Baai"  early  in  April.  The 
Swedes  soon  after  disembarked  at  Missipillion  Point,  twenty  miles  up 
the  bay,  on  the  western  shore. 

Emigrating  from  an  almost  arctic  climate,  the  Swedes  were  delighted 
by  the  Eden-like  airs  which,  in  April,  are  the  atmosphere  of  the  capes 
of  Delaware,  and  which  linger  over  them  through  the  balmy  summers. 
Enchanted  with  the  climate,  and  charmed  by  the  scene,  they  gave  their 
landing-place  the  name  of  "  Point  Paradise."  It  may  have  been  an  ex 
travagant  appellation  ;  but  as  the  lover  of  natural  beauty  sits  quietly  at 
Sea  Grove,  and  sees  the  glorious  summer  sun  sink  amid  his  clouds,  in 
the  waters  of  the  bay,  above  Henlopen  and  far-away  Missipillion,  he 
need  not  be  a  poet  to  imagine  that  the  scene  is  somewhat  too  fair  to 
be  all  of  earth. 

§  When,  in  1623, tne  French  attempted  to  take  possession  of  the  Del 
aware,  they  were  prevented  "  by  the  Dutch  settlers  there ;"  so,  in  1635, 
the  Dutch  from  Manhattan  ousted  the  party  of  English  under  Holmes. 
In  1638  they  were  in  the  river,  and  equally  ready  to  repel  the  Swedes. 
Soon  after  the  Swedes  arrived  in  the  Delaware  they  were  visited  by 
some  officials  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  who  notified  them 
of  the  claims  of  Holland  thereabouts,  and  warned  them  out  of  the  bay. 
The  Swedes,  in  answer  to  this  challenge,  stated  that  they  were  on  their 
way  to  one  of  the  West  India  islands,  and  had  put  into  Zuydt  Baai 
but  for  refreshment  after  a  prolonged  and  stormy  voyage,  which  they 
should  continue  as  soon  as  they  supplied  themselves  with  fresh  meat, 
water,  wood,  and  a  few  necessaries.  Not  inhospitable,  the  Dutch  con 
sented  to  this  delay,  trusting  to  the  representations  which  had  been 
made  to  them. 

But  Minuit,  who  well  understood  the  Dutch  policy  and  the  extent 


THE  FIRST  GARDEN  IN  DELA  WARE. 


33 


of  their  jurisdiction,  merely  moved  his  expedition  up  stream,  beyond 
the  limits  of  that  which  had  been  Godyn  and  Blommaert's  purchase  in 
1629,  and  at  Paghacking,  or  Minquas,  Creek,  near  Wilmington,  Dela 
ware,  made  a  second  landing.  There,  from  a  local  sachem,  named 
Matteehoorn,  a  plantation  was  bought,  "  between  six  trees,"  "  a  kettle 
and  a  few  trifles"  being  paid  in  consideration.  The  Swedes  won  Mat 
teehoorn  by  the  promise  of  the  half  of  a  crop  of  tobacco,  to  be  raised 
on  the  ground  he  conveyed  to  them.  Between  Matteehoorn  and  the 
Swedes  some  document,  memorandum,  or  deed  was  drawn  up;  "as  no 
Swede  could  yet  interpret  Indian,"  and  no  Indian  understand  Swedish, 
the  paper  "  was  written  in  low  Dutch."  The  Indians  could  read  neither 
language,  and  were,  it  seems,  induced  to  sign  a  deed  of  the  land  from 
Cape  Henlopen  to  Trenton,  or  "  Sankekan"  Falls,  and  as  far  inland  as 
the  Swedes  might  gradually  require,  under  the  impression  they  were 
conveying  a  mere  patch  of  ground  to  raise  tobacco  on  "  at  halves." 
The  Swedes,  says  Indian  tradition,  never  divided  the  tobacco,  but  held 
the  Indians  to  the  letter  of  the  fraudulent  deed. 

The  mouth  of  the  Paghacking  was  but  twenty-five  miles  from  the 
Dutch  Fort  Nassau,  and  messengers  were  soon  sent  to  learn  Minuit's 
intentions;  these  he  cajoled  with  courtesy  and  fine  words,  and  they 
went  back  to  their  fort.  In  a  few  days  the  people  of  Fort  Nassau  came 
down  again,  and  found  the  Swedes  "  had  done  more," — buildings  were 
begun,  goods  disembarked,  and  a  small  garden  made.  The  Dutch 
asking  what  it  meant,  Minuit  made  various  excuses  and  pretenses,  still 
declaring  his  intention  to  soon  depart.  As  soon  as  the  Swedish  colony 
was  safely  established,  Minuit  revealed  his  purpose  by  sending  his 
small  vessel,  the  Griffin,  up  the  river  for  Indian  trade.  She  was  not 
allowed  to  pass  Fort  Nassau,  and  Peter  May,  the  sub-commissary, 
boarded  her  and  demanded  her  commission.  The  Swedish  master  re 
fused  to  show  his  papers,  and  defended  the  establishment  of  a  Swedish 
colony  on  the  Delaware,  saying  his  queen  had  as  good  a  right  to 
build  a  fort  there  as  the  Dutch  West  India  Company.  Of  all  this  the 
people  at  Fort  Nassau  took  note,  and  at  once  forwarded  the  particulars 
to  Manhattan.  Director-General  Kieft  protested  against  the  Swedish 
colony,  and  warned  them  to  depart  at  once,  as  all  that  part  of  the 
world,  especially  the  Delaware,  belonged  to  the  Hollanders,  it  having 
been  for  a  long  time  "  beset  with  forts  and  sealed  with  the  blood  of  the 
Dutch."  But  the  epistle  had  little  influence  with  Minuit,  and  Kieft, 
who  was  as  "  economical"  as  he  was  "  testy,"  was  too  prudent  to  attack 
the  colony  of  a  nation  as  gallant  and  victorious  as  the  Swedes. 

There  were  but  fifty  souls  in  the  first  expedition  under  Minuit,  and 
of  these  many  were  "  bandits,"  condemned  to  penal  servitude.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  the  opposition  from  the  Hollanders,  the  little  colony 
"between  six  trees"  was  prosperous.  On  the  north  bank  of  the 
Paghacking,  two  miles  from  the  Delaware,  a  fort  was  erected,  and  the 


34  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

name  of  Christina  given  to  it  and  the  creek, — the  arms  of  Sweden 
being  carved  with  the  royal  monogram  on  the  boundary  posts  of  the 
station.  Besides,  a  plantation  was  made,  where  corn,  beans,  squashes, 
and  the  profitable  tobacco,  grew  as  they  long  had  grown  in  the  same 
region,  except  that  they  showed,  by  their  unexampled  productiveness, 
the  difference  between  the  bone  paddle  of  the  overtaxed  squaw  and  the 
heavy  steel  mattock  of  the  athletic  Scandinavian.  Not  only  were  all 
the  Indian  products  improved  by  Swedish  culture,  but  the  seeds  of 
Europe  were  introduced,  and  soon  made  evident,  by  prolific  increase, 
the  proverbial  fertility  of  the  soil  of  Delaware  and  the  influence  of 
a  genial  climate.  Meantime,  commerce  was  not  neglected ;  the  goods 
brought  for  barter  were  soon  disposed  of,  for  the  Swedes  undersold  the 
Dutch,  and  it  is  recorded  that  the  beaver-skins  taken  to  Sweden  the 
first  year  of  Minuit's  administration  damaged  the  Dutch  trade  on  the 
Delaware  more  than  thirty  thousand  guilders. 

About  midsummer  the  vessels  which  brought  the  colony  returned  to 
Sweden,  but  Minuit  and  twenty-four  men,  with  a  good  supply  of  mer 
chandise  and  provisions,  remained  at  Fort  Christina.  There  was  great 
delay  in  the  coming  of  further  supplies  from  Sweden,  and  in  the  win 
ter  of  1640  the  Swedes  were  so  much  in  want  they  decided  to  abandon 
their  plantation,  and  merge  themselves  in  the  settlement  at  Manhattan. 
But  early  in  the  spring,  the  day  before  the  Swedes  had  decided  to'give 
up  Fort  Christina,  a  ship  named  the  Fredenburg,  Captain  Jacob  Powel- 
son,  of  Utrecht,  Holland,  arrived  with  a  company  of  Hollanders,  who, 
under  the  Dutchman  Joost  De  Bogaredt  as  a  commander  for  Sweden, 
had  been  sent  out  by  Henry  Hockhammer,  according  to  grant  and 
agreement  with  the  Swedish  Government,  to  settle  as  Swedish  colonists 
on  the  Delaware.  The  distress  of  the  resident  Swedes  was  relieved  by 
De  Bogaredt,  and  they  continued  at  Fort  Christina.  Another  colony 
was  begun  a  few  miles  below,  and  soon  the  trade  of  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company  on  the  South  River  was  "  entirely  ruined." 

In  the  fall  of  1640  Peter  Hollendare  came  from  Gottenburg  to  Fort 
Christina  as  Deputy  Governor  of  the  Swedes  in  America ;  two  vessels 
soon  followed,  and  "  a  new  treaty  was  made  with  the  Indians  for 
more  land."  The  Swedes  called  their  territory  Nya  Swerige,  or  New 
Sweden,  and  to  Zuydt  Riviere  they  gave  the  title  of  New  Swedeland 
Stream.  Nye  Swerige  was  more  fortunate  than  Swaanendael ;  it  had 
become  a  successful  colony, — the  first  permanent  settlement  on  the 
Delaware.  Minuit  had  proved  a  good  guide  and  a  sagacious,  even  if 
crafty,  commandant;  but  his  work  was  done.  In  1641,  according  to 
Acrelius,  the  Swedish  historian,  he  died  at  Fort  Christina,  while 
Peter  Hollendare  continued  the  government. 

The  colonists  of  Virginia,  as  early  as  1629,  extended  by  Nathaniel 
Basse  an  invitation  to  such  of  the  people  of  New  England  as  preferred 
a  fertile  soil  and  mild  climate,  to  come  and  settle  in  the  Valley  of  the 


NEW  HAVEN  COLONY  ON  THE  DELAWARE.  35 

Delaware.  The  matter  was  discussed  among  the  Puritans,  but  the  first 
adventurers  sent  to  the  Delaware  by  them  were  from  New  Haven,  in 
1638,  the  year  that  colony  was  founded.  The  traders  of  New  Haven, 
George  Lamberton  and  others,  led  the  way.  The  project  of  emigra 
tion  was  originated  by  a  few  enterprising  persons,  who  soon  formed  a 
company  that  finally  sold  out  its  interest  to  the  community  at  large, 
which,  as  a  Church,  desired  to  establish  a  mission  among  the  Dela- 
wares,  and  found  a  prosperous  colony  where  all  should  live  in  godly 
order,  and  their  children  after  them  "  should  continue  to  abide  under 
the  wings  of  Christ." 

Captain  Nathaniel  Turner  bought  of  the  Indians,  for  ,£30,  the  land 
along  shore  from  Cape  May  to  Raccoon  Creek,  Varcken's  Kill,  Hog 
Creek,  or  Salem  River;  the  deed  was  dated  November  24th,  1638. 
At  different  times  during  the  next  two  years  additional  lands  were 
purchased  by  and  for  the  New  Haven  adventurers.  They  were  helped 
in  their  negotiations  by  a  refugee  sachem  of  the  Pequods,  and  repre 
sented  that  their  lands  cost  them  ;£6oo  in  all.  (N.  H.  Col.  Rec^ 

In  April,  1641,  an  expedition  of  some  twenty  families,  or  sixty  or 
more  persons,  sailed  for  the  Delaware  in  Lamberton's  bark,  or  ketch, 
under  command  of  Robert  Cogswell.  Voyaging  by  the  way  of  Man 
hattan,  they  were  detained  by  Kieft ;  but  promising  allegiance  to  the 
Dutch  if  they  settled  in  Dutch  territories,  they  were  allowed  to  go  on. 
The  New  Haven  people  landed  on  Varcken's  Kill,  near  Salem,  New 
Jersey,  and  "  on  the  Schuylkill."  Trading  houses  and  habitations  were 
erected  on  Varcken's  Kill.  The  Schuylkill  settlement  was  at  or  near 
Fort  Eriwomeck,  the  headquarters  of  New  Albion ;  the  Dutch  "  Bevers- 
rede,"  the  Indian  Armenveruis,  or  Passyunk,  at  Philadelphia.  These 
plantations  were  to  be  governed  "  in  combination"  with  New  Haven, 
and  Captain  Turner  was  furloughed  from  New  Haven  and  authorized 
to  go  to  the  Delaware,  "  for  his  own  advantage,  and  the  public  good  in 
settling  the  affairs  thereof." 

Though  the  New  Haven  people  were  intruding  upon  territories 
claimed  by  both  the  Dutch  and  Swedes,  yet  such  was  the  confusion  of 
titles  that  their  claim  may  have  been  supposed  by  them  as  good  as 
any ;  besides,  they  found  Sir  Edmund  Plowden  in  the  bay,  with  an 
English  grant  of  New  Albion,  and  gave  allegiance  to  him  as  Earl 
Palatine.  Kieft,  however,  considered  that  Cogswell  had  purposely 
deceived  him,  and  the  Swedes  were  ready,  as  they  had  agreed,  to  co 
operate  to  "keep  out  the  English."  In  May,  1642,  two  sloops,  the 
Real  and  Saint  Martin,  with  thirty  men,  under  Jan  Jansen  Van  Ilpen- 
dam,  of  Fort  Nassau,  were  sent  by  Kieft's  orders  to  break  up  the 
English  settlements  on  the  Delaware.  Fort  Eriwomeck  was  first 
visited  ;  there  were  some  Marylanders  at  that  place  of  the  rougher 
sort,  and  accounts  differ  as  to  the  result  of  Kieft's  proclamation,  which 
was  read  to  them.  One  author  asserts  that  the  English  were  so 


36  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

violently  blasphemous  and  threatening,  that  Jansen  drew  off  his  sloops 
and  made  the  best  of  his  way  out  of  the  Schuylkill ;  but  others  declare 
the  colony  there  was  broken  up. 

From  the  Schuylkill  Jansen  sailed  to  Varcken's  Kill.  There,  meet 
ing  no  resistance,  he  burned  the  English  buildings,  took  possession 
of  all  the  goods,  and  bore  away  most  of  the  people  as  prisoners 
to  Fort  Amsterdam,  at  Manhattan.  Their  goods  were  restored  to  the 
New  Haven  people,  and  they  proceeded  home  to  Connecticut.  The 
colony  on  Varcken's  Kill  had  been  very  unfortunate  ;  the  members  had 
come  on  foot  from  Boston  to  New  Haven,  where  they  remained  but  a 
short  time  before  moving  to  the  Delaware;  the  winter  they  spent  on 
Varcken's  Kill  was  excessively  cold,  and  the  summer  had  been  very 
sickly;  their  time,  their  trouble,  the  cost  of  their  lands,  all  were  lost, 
as  well  as  damage  done  their  goods.  Still  the  undaunted  Lamberton 
continued  to  trade  in  the  Delaware  from  New  Haven,  though  annoyed 
and  interrupted  at  times ;  the  New  Haven  people  also  attempted, 
though  in  vain,  to  renew  their  colony,  being  turned  back  at  Manhattan. 
The  records  of  New  Haven  for  a  few  years  show  the  public  and  private 
loss  from  the  Delaware  enterprise.  The  sufferers  applied  to  the  Com 
missioners  of  New  England,  to  Oliver  Cromwell,  to  Richard,  his  son, 
and  finally,  to  Nichols, — when  he  first  came  out, — for  restitution  at 
the  expense  of  the  Dutch.  Their  losses  were  more  than  a  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  but,  from  one  cause  and  another,  nothing  was  ever 
realized  by  them  in  return. 

There  was  no  original  and  permanent  colony  from  New  England  on 
the  Delaware  until  the  whalemen,  who  first  appear  on  record  in  1685, 
settled  at  Cape  May.  Although  Plowden,  who  never  had  many  men 
with  him,  had  been  unable  to  defend  his  earldom,  or  protect  the  people 
who  recognized  him  as  their  lord,  and  although  the  colony  was  driven 
out  to  return  no  more,  still  members  of  the  Calvinistic  community 
were  left  behind,  and  the  fame  of  the  Delaware  was  spread  abroad 
by  the  quarrels  which  followed.  In  the  settlements  of  the  following 
generation  around  the  bay,  the  Yanokies  (silent  men),  as  the  Mais 
Tchusaeg,  or  Massachusetts  Indians,  called  the  New  Englanders,  had 
their  full  share  of  action,  influence,  and  honor,  as  is  usual  everywhere. 
Comparing  a  record  of  the  early  settlers  of  New  Haven  and  Cape  May, 
about  one-fifth  of  the  family  names  from  the  Cape  May  list  are  inscribed 
on  the  older  New  Haven  document. 

§  Peter  Hollendare  remained  as  the  successor  of  Governer  Minuit 
but  eighteen  months.  On  the  i$th  of  February,  1643,  after  Hollen- 
dare's  return  to  Sweden,  Colonel  John  Printz  arrived  at  Christina,  and 
at  once  assumed  office  by  virtue  of  his  commission  as  Governor  for 
the  Queen  of  Sweden.  Governor  Printz  came  out  in  the  ship  Fame, 
attended  by  the  Svan  or  Stork,  and  by  the  Charitas — all  armed  vessels. 
The  instructions  of  the  new  Governor  were  full  and  explicit.  About  a 


PRE-HISTOR1C  RUINS  IN  NEW  JERSEY.  37 

hundred  soldiers  came  with  him,  as  well  as  many  colonists,  the  royal 
council  having  appropriated  over  two  million  dollars  annually  for  the 
support  of  his  administration.  Printz  was  directed  to  keep  on  good 
terms  with  the  Dutch  and  cultivate  trade  with  the  English  of  Virginia, 
and  especially  to  see  that  the  Indians  were  treated  with  consideration 
and  justice,  as  the  original  owners  of  the  soil.  Still,  the  Swedes  were 
to  assume  control  of  the  Delaware,  "  that  the  river  may  be  shut,"  and 
in  case  of  aggression  on  the  west  side  they  were  commanded  to  "  repel 
force  by  force;"  Printz  was  thus  "  to  take  care"  of  his  jurisdiction. 
On  Tenacong,  now  Tinicum  Island,  Printz  built  the  fort,  New  Got- 
tenburg,  of  "  vast  logs,"  and  erected  Printz  Hall  for  his  residence.  To 
shut  up  the  river,  a  fort  was  built  on  Varcken's  Kill,  called  Helsing- 
borg  or  Elsingburg;  it  had  three  angles,  and  mounted  eight  twelve- 
pound  guns. 

The  Rev.  John  Campanius,  of  Stockholm,  came  with  Printz  as 
chaplain;  Reorus  Torkillus  had  served  in  that  capacity  at  Christina 
from  the  first.  He  died  the  ;th  of  September  following  the  arrival 
of  his  colleague,  being  but  thirty-five  years  old,  still  memorable  as 
the  first  Lutheran  missionary  in  the  Delaware  Valley,  if  not  in  all 
America. 

There  is  a  well-authenticated  tradition  related  by  the  Swedish 
botanist,  Peter  Kalm,  in  1748,  upon  the  authority  of  Moons  Keen, 
one  of  the  ancient  Swedes,  regarding  Fort  Helsingborg.  When  work 
was  begun  upon  the  fort,  the  builders  found  traces  of  ancient  occu 
pants  in  certain  wells,  which  were  bricked  up  to  a  depth  of  twenty 
feet  or  more  under  ground ;  there  were  vessels  and  fragments  of 
pottery,  with  broken  and  displaced  brick  also  found  near  by,  giving 
unmistakable  evidence  of  the  civilization  of  former  residents.  The 
situation  of  the  wells  and  the  position  of  the  other  relics  was  in  a 
meadow  near  the  river,  where  all  the  surroundings  indicated  the 
absolute  antiquity  of  the  pre-historic  settlement.  The  Indians,  who 
had  occupied  the  ground  for  generations,  had  no  knowledge  or  tradi 
tion  of  people  who  dug  wells  and  used  bricks  and  pottery  in  a  civilized 
manner,  but  assured  the  Swedes  the  relics  had  certainly  been  where 
they  found  them  for  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years, — ever  since 
the  voyages  of  Columbus.  Were  these  wells  the  work  of  Lief  Erik- 
son,  and  the  Norwegian  Christians,  A.D.  996  to  A.D.  1000?  Were 
they  dug  by  the  men  who  built  the  round  tower  at  Newport? 

§  In  October  of  1643,  the  year  Helsingborg  was  established,  De 
Vries  again  visited  South  River,  putting  in  as  he  was  on  his  way  to 
Virginia.  As  the  craft  came  abreast  of  Fort  Helsingborg,  a  gun  was 
fired  for  her  to  strike  her  flag  and  "come  to."  Blanck,  the  schipper, 
asked  advice  of  De  Vries.  "  If  it  were  my  ship  I  should  not  strike," 
said  De  Vries,  "  for  I  am  a  patroon  of  New  Netherland,  and  the 
Swedes  are  mere  intruders  in  our  river."  The  schipper,  however, 


3  8  SCHEYJCHB1  AND   THE  STRAND. 

"  had  a  desire  to  trade,"  and  lowered  his  colors.  A  boat  came  on 
board  the  vessel  at  once,  and  she  sailed  up  to  Tinicum  that  after 
noon.  The  Dutch  were  welcomed  to  Fort  Gottenburg  by  the  Governor, 
who  "  was  named  Captain  Printz,  a  man  of  brave  size,  who  weighed 
over  four  hundred  pounds."  Being  informed  of  the  position  of  De 
Vries  and  his  doings  on  the  Delaware,  Printz  drank  his  health  in  "a 
great  romer  of  Rhine  wine."  The  Dutch  traded  confectionery  and 
Madeira  wine  for  beaver-skins  at  the  fort  for  five  days,  and  then 
visited  Fort  Nassau,  where  a  garrison  of  Dutchmen  was  found.  Re 
turning  to  Tinicum,  De  Vries  went  with  Printz  to  Fort  Christina, 
"  where  there  were  now  several  houses,"  and  spent  the  night  with 
the  Governor,  who  "  treated  him  well."  On  parting  from  the  Swedes 
the  Rotterdam  vessel  fired  a  salute  in  honor  of  their  hospitality,  and 
sailed  away  for  Virginia.  Thus  De  Vries,  who  forebore  his  vengeance 
upon  the  feeble  Nanticokes,  and  ever  counseled  justice  and  peace  in 
dealing  with  the  bow-bearing  Indians  of  Manhattan,  was  brave  enough 
of  himself  to  defy  a  battery  of  cannon  in  an  unarmed  vessel,  and  court 
eous  enough  to  win  the  favor  of  a  supposed  enemy  and  competitor. 

.Patroon  De  Vries  spent  the  winter  of  1643  in  Virginia,  and  sailed 
from  there  for  Holland,  where  he  arrived  in  June,  1644.  De  Vries  had 
given  his  best  efforts  for  a  dozen  years  to  New  Netherland,  but  the 
petulance  of  Hossett,  the  mismanagement  of  Van  Twiller,  and  the  stub 
born  folly  of  Kieft,  had  thwarted  his  sagacious  endeavors,  and  to  him 
the  memory  of  his  sojourn  in  the  New  World  was  a  sad  retrospect  of 
losses  and  tragical  disappointments ;  he  seems  never  to  have  revisited 
America. 

David  Pietersen  De  Vries  was  one  of  the  finest  characters  of  New 
Netherland  history.  A  man  of  the  people,  he  was  ever  a  foe  to  des 
potism,  injustice,  and  cruelty.  In  Manhattan,  where  he  resided  so  long 
and  honorably,  he  was,  as  Chairman  of  the  Citizens'  Committee,  the 
acknowledged  head  of  the  Dutch  democracy.  The  Indians  trusted  De 
Vries  as  a  Swannekin  "who  never  lied  like  the  others,"  and  his  influ 
ence  with  the  aborigines,  with  his  characteristic  tact  and  discrimination, 
more  than  once  saved  the  province  from  destruction. 

To  the  folly  and  mismanagement  of  Van  Twiller  De  Vries  opposed  the 
coolness  of  practical  sense  and  the  courage  of  a  hero.  When  the  fool 
hardy  and  barbarous  Director  Kieft  ordered  the  massacre  of  his  Indian 
refugee  guests,  De  Vries  gave  earnest  warning,  and  the  revengeful  ruin 
which  followed  came  upon  Manhattan  despite  the  protest  of  the  demo 
cratic  leader.  Firm  and  perhaps  overbearing  in  maintaining  his  own 
rights  as  a  citizen  and  privileged  proprietor  among  his  equals,  even  at 
the  cannon's  mouth,  he  forebore  revenge  upon  the  ignorant  savage 
trespasser,  and  ever  counseled  and  practiced  honesty  and  humanity  in 
all  dealings  with  his  Indian  neighbors.  Wise  in  council,  prudent  in 
action,  De  Vries  stood  firm  for  right,  palliated  the  evils  he  could  not 


TRANSLATION   OF   THE  LUTHERAN  CATECHISM.  39 

avert,  and  constantly  manifested  that  self-control  and  magnanimity 
which  won  the  affection  of  the  Indians  from  Fort  Orange  to  Sandy 
Hook,  and  conciliated  the  barbarians  of  Swaanendael  and  Scheyichbi, 
making  smooth  and  peaceful  the  ways  of  his  successors  on  the  Dela 
ware. 

Though  filling  a  merely  subordinate  position,  De  Vries  was  by  nature 
and  experience  equally  commendable  as  a  man,  a  citizen,  a  commander, 
a  diplomat,  or  a  statesman.  It  would  be  untrue  to  history  and  unjust 
both  to  him  and  his  creed  not  to  record,  in  addition,  the  fact  that  the 
first  resident  patroon  and  owner  of  Cape  May  was  a  man  of  religious 
sentiments,  in  principle,  after  the  best  ideal,  a  devout  and  consistent 
Christian. 

§  On  the  i6th  of  May,  1648,  the  Rev.  John  Campanius  returned  to 
Sweden.  He  had  been  chaplain  of  New  Sweden  since  the  year  1642, 
and  was  a  man  of  much  earnestness  and  application.  In  addition  to 
his  duties  as  chaplain,  Campanius  kept  a  copious  journal  of  his  voyage 
to  America  and  his  observations  in  New  Sweden.  The  Indians  fre 
quented  the  house  of  Campanius,  who  never  wearied  in  discussing  with 
them  the  tenets  of  his  Church,  and  recorded  that  he  found  them  able 
to  comprehend  the  doctrines  of  his  creed.  Struck  with  the  patience, 
aptness,  and  docility  of  his  pupils,  Campanius  studied  their  language, 
and  translated  the  Lutheran  Catechism  into  the  Lenni  Lenape  dialect 
of  the  Algonquin  tongue.  This  book  was  printed  by  royal  command 
at  Stockholm,  in  Indian  and  Swedish,  in  1696,  in  one  volume,  160 
pages,  I2mo;  to  the  text  a  vocabulary  is  added,  with  examples,  dia 
logues,  etc. 

There  is  a  copy  of  this  Swedish-Indian  Lutheran  Catechism  in  the 
possession  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadelphia,  and 
one  was  owned  by  Peter  S.  DuPonceau,  LL.D.,  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Historical  Society.  Clay,  in  his  Swedish  Annals,  suggests  "  that  the 
Swedes  may  claim  the  honor  of  having  been  the  first  missionaries 
among  the  Indians,  at  least  in  Pennsylvania;  and  that,  perhaps,  the  very 
first  work  translated  into  the  Indian  language  in  America  was  the 
translation  of  Luther's  Catechism,  by  Campanius." 

Presumably,  the  author  of  the  "Annals"  refers  to  Protestant  mission 
aries  ;  for,  not  to  mention  the  Spanish  priests  who  came  over  even  with 
Columbus,  and  soon  made  converts,  the  French  Catholics  at  "  Port 
Royal"  (Annapolis,  N.  S.)  began  teaching  the  Micmacs  and  Abenekis  as 
early  as  1605  ;  and  the  Jesuits  were  there  at  public  expense  as  mission 
aries  to  the  Indians  in  1611.  De  Saussaye  founded  the  mission  of 
St.  Sauveur,  on  the  Penobscot,  in  1613,  which,  in  August  of  the  same 
year,  Argall,  of  Virginia,  piratically  destroyed.  There  was  a  mission 
to  the  Hurons  by  Brebeuf,  Daniel,  and  Lallemand,  the  Jesuit  "  Fathers," 
in  1634,  and  an  amply  endowed  Indians'  hospital  at  Quebec,  in  1635. 
An  Indian  seminary  was  founded  at  Quebec,  with  money  and  teachers, 


4o  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

the  same  year,  and  about  the  time  the  Swedes  came  to  "Zuydt  River" 
an  Ursuline  convent  school  for  Indians  was  established  there." 

Five  years  before  Eliot  preached  to  a  tribe  six  miles  from  Boston, 
Charles  Raymbault  and  Isaac  Jogues,  under  Jesuit  direction,  penetrated 
in  1641  to  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  and  preached  "  Christ  and  him 
crucified"  to  a  congregation  of  two  thousand  wild  aborigines.  "  Not  a 
cape  was  turned,  nor  a  river  entered,"  says  Bancroft,  "but  a  Jesuit  led 
the  way."  Dissent  is  free,  thank  God  !  Even  dissent  from  dissent,  at 
last;  but  history  must  crown  with  a  just  award  those  to  whom,  what 
ever  the  dogma,  THE  CROSS  meant  obedience,  patience,  and  self-denial, — 
who  bore  the  symbol  of  a  divine  humanity  to  savage  men,  and,  in  the 
speechless  death-agony  of  Indian  tortures,  offered  their  cruel  execu 
tioners  the  sign  of  universal  love,  mercy,  and  forgiveness ! 

Campanius  and  Eliot  began  labor  in  the  same  field  at  about  the  same 
time,  and  though  the  work  of  Eliot  was  the  greatest  and  most  success 
ful,  the  purpose  was  identical,  and  the  honor  due  each  is  of  the  same 
nature.  The  Swedish  chaplain  acquired  the  "  Renni  Rennappi"  lan 
guage  during  the  six  years  of  his  stay  on  the  Delaware,  but  his  trans 
lation  of  the  Lutheran  Catechism  was  not  put  to  press  until  1696. 
Eliot  began  to  preach  in  Indian  October  28th,  1646,  the  Mohegan  New 
Testament  was  printed  in  Boston  in  1661,  and  the  whole  Bible  two 
years  later — fifteen  years  after  Eliot  began  the  translation. 

The  printer's  work  on  this  Mohegan  Bible — the  first  Bible  published 
in  America — was  slowly  done  by  an  Englishman,  and  John  Printer,  an 
Indian  youth.  The  work  included  a  catechism,  and  the  Psalms  of  David 
in  Indian  verse.  Fifteen  hundred  copies  were  printed,  at  a  cost  of  two 
thousand  dollars  ;  several  of  them,  richly  bound,  being  presented  to 
King  Charles  of  England.  "  Eliot's  Bible"  may  be  seen  in  the  Phila 
delphia  Library,  in  the  library  of  Harvard  College,  and  a  few  other  like 
places :  few  as  these  copies  are,  those  who  can  read  them  are  fewer  still. 

To  give  an  example  of  the  difficulties  encountered  by  Campanius  in 
his  translation,  it  is  said  that,  as  the  Indians  used  no  bread,  he  was 
compelled  to  translate  the  Lord's  Prayer:  "Give  us  this  day  a  plentiful 
supply  of  venison  and  corn."  Eliot,  in  translating  the  Biblical  account 
in  which  the  mother  of  Sisera  is  described  as  looking  through  the 
"lattice,"  described  a  lattice  to  his  Indian  assistants,  upon  whom  he 
was  compelled  to  depend  for  a  word:  what  must  have  been  his  chagrin 
to  find,  afterwards,  that  he  had  made  "  the  mother  of  Sisera  look  out 
of  the  window  through  a  wicker-basket  trap  for  eels  !"  A  thorough 
scholar  like  Eliot  was  needed  to  deal  with  the  synthetical  difficulties 
of  a  language  in  which,  as  no  unconverted  Indian  knelt,  the  phraes 
"kneeling  down  unto  him"  is  of  necessity  translated  and  printed 
Wutappessttukgussunnoohwehtunkguok  ;  yet  Eliot  translated  several 
works  into  Mohegan,  notably  a  Mohegan  grammar,  and  an  "  Indian 
Logick  Primer." 


THE  PRAYING   INDIANS.  4I 

It  required  the  labor  of  years,  says  Loskiel,  the  Moravian  mission 
ary,  to  make  the  Delaware  dialect  capable  of  expressing  abstract  truth. 
A  new  language  had  to  be  forged  out  of  existing  terms,  by  circumlo 
cutions  and  combinations.  "  Eliot  caught  the  analogies  of  nature  to 
convey  moral  truth  in  his  Indian  Bible."  Each  Indian  tongue  and 
dialect  was  a  perfectly  organized  language,  expressive  of  all  material 
things,  but  there  were  few  words  to  express  aught  else;  no  terms  for 
continence,  justice,  gratitude,  or  holiness.  It  was  impossible  to  trans 
late  the  doxology  into  the  purely  synthetic,  absolutely  definite  Indian 
tongue,  and  hence  the  Onondagas  were  taught  to  sing:  "Glory  be 
to  our  Father,  and  to  His  Son,  and  to  Their  Holy  Ghost."  Cotton 
Mather,  who  based  his  orthodoxy  on  witchcraft,  gravely  stated  that  he 
tested  the  demons  around  him,  who  made  a  pretense  of  being  linguists, 
with  the  Indian  tongue.  These  imps,  Mather  says,  frequented  his 
premises,  and  could  well  manage  Latin,  Hebrew,  and  Greek  with  ease, 
but  at  the  Mohegan  dialect  they  shrank  back  in  dismay.  The  pleas 
ing  inference  is  that  the  Indians  were  a  people  unknown  in  hell ;  but 
the  cruel  old  witch-hunter  did  not  tell  the  story  as  a  compliment  to 
the  Mohegans,  but  honestly  as  a  fact, — one  worthy  the  most  fortunate 
spiritualist. 

Both  the  Mohegans  and  Delawares  were  appreciative  of  the  work 
done  for  them  by  their  apostles  and  catechists.  Eliot  had  three  thou 
sand  six  hundred  praying  Indians,  whom  he  led  like  a  flock,  until 
King  Philip's  Indian  war,  when  the  men  of  Massachusetts,  mad  with 
terror  and  despair,  turned  upon  even  the  inoffensive,  praying  Indians, 
broke  up  their  unarmed  civilized  towns,  and  drove  their  innocent  red 
fellow-Christians  through  suffering  to  foreign  slavery.  So  perished  the 
hope  of  John  Eliot.  The  Swedish  missionaries  sent  out  by  the  King 
and  Church  of  Sweden  to  the  Delaware  in  1696  wrote  back:  "The 
Indians  and  we  are  as  one  people.  They  are  also  very  fond  of  learning 
the  catechism,  which  has  been  printed  in  their  language.  They  like  to 
have  it  read  to  them,  and  they  have  engaged  Mr.  Charles  Springer  to 
teach  their  children  to  read  it."  And  these  same  people  protested 
alike  to  Swedes,  Dutch,  and  English  everywhere  against  the  sale  of 
rum  to  their  young  men. 

Few,  if  any,  of  the  Indians  of  the  Delaware  became  Christians  in  the 
time  of  Campanius,  but  afterwards,  when  broken  as  a  tribe  by  contact 
with  the  whites,  the  Moravians  became  the  kindly  guardians  of  a  part 
of  their  people,  and  many  of  them  joined  that  church,  and  settled 
peacefully  and  prosperously  at  "  Conestoga,"  only  to  be  driven  from 
their  last  home  in  Pennsylvania  by  the  murderous  "  Paxton  boys,"  who, 
coveting  their  land,  killed  many  of  them  in  1762.  Under  the  able 
leadership  of  their  chief,  the  educated,  pious  Isaac  Still,  the  remnant 
of  the  Delawares  emigrated  to  the  valley  of  the  Wabash,  "  far  away" 
then,  as  they  desired  to  be,  "  from  war  and  rum."  The  last  party  of 


42 


SCHEYICHDI  AND    THE  STRAND. 


about  forty  started  in  the  fall  of  1/75.  The  great  tribe  had  left  the 
banks  of  the  Poutaxit  forever.  In  1803  Hanna  Hannah,  last  of  the 
Lenapees  in  the  east,  died  in  Chester  County.  So  passed  away  the 
peaceful,  wise,  and  influential  "original  people."  "In  their  dealings 
with  the  white  man,"  says  Colonel  Wm.  B.  Sipes,  in  his  sketch  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad,  "  they  were  scrupulously  honest,  and  many  of 
them  became  strongly  attached  to  the  early  settlers.  The  treaties  they 
made,  which  cost  them  so  much  and  profited  them  so  little,  were  never 
broken,  and  when  they  had  dwindled  away,  before  the  advancing  tide 
of  civilization,  to  a  mere  remnant  of  a  mighty  race,  they  left  the  burial 
places  of  their  fathers  in  search  of  new  homes  without  a  stain  upon 
their  honor." 

Regretting  that  the  limits  of  his  work  prohibit  more  extended  recog 
nition  of  the  faithful  Lenni  Lenape,  the  author  has  chosen  a  word  from 
their  language  to  grace  his  title-page,  "  Scheyichbi"  having  been  the 
ancient  Indian  name  of  New  Jersey. 

§  The  Swedes'  Governor,  John  Printz,  writes  Governor  Winthrop,  of 
New  England,  in  his  history,  "  was  a  man  very  furious  and  passionate, 
cursing  and  swearing,  and  also  reviling  the  English  of  New  Haven 
as  runnigates."  The  Swedish  policy  brought  Printz  into  a  series  of 
quarrels  with  the  Dutch  of  Fort  Nassau,  and  they  found  no  exemp 
tion  from  his  bad  manners.  For  all  that,  the  Governor  of  the  Swedes 
was  an  able  man,  and  not  only  managed  well  in  the  fur  trade,  but  so 
overslaughed  and  undermined  the  power  of  the  Dutch,  that  in  1649, 
about  ten  years  after  the  settlement  by  Minuit  at  Paghacking,  the 
Swedes  were  supreme  on  the  Delaware. 

On  the  iith  of  May,  1647,  Peter  Stuyvesant  succeeded  Wilhelmus 
Kieft  as  Director-General  of  New  Netherland.  For  several  years 
affairs  at  Manhattan  restrained  and  preoccupied  him,  but  in  1651 
decided  measures  were  taken  to  reassert  the  claims  of  the  Dutch 
on  South  River,  where  Stuyvesant  proceeded  in  person.  After  un 
satisfactory  negotiations  with  Printz,  the  Dutch  bought  of  certain 
Indians  lands  five  miles  below  Fort  Christina,  and  at  Newcastle, 
Delaware,  they  built  a  fort  which  they  called  Kasimir,  Fort  Nassau 
being  demolished. 

Failing  to  receive  the  reinforcements  he  demanded,  Printz  returned 
to  Sweden,  November  7th,  1653,  leaving  John  Papegoia  in  charge  of 
the  colony.  But  Sweden  had  not  forgotten  her  colony,  but  entrusted 
it  to  a  "General  College  of  Commerce,"  and  in  1653  John  Rising, 
Governor  of  New  Sweden,  in  command  of  a  strong  military  force, 
entered  the  Delaware,  where  there  had  been  for  some  time  less  than 
a  score  of  Swedish  soldiers.  Rising  managed  to  gain  possession  of 
Fort  Casimir  without  fighting,  and  at  once  fully  restablished  the  power 
of  Sweden,  and  soon  concluded  a  just  peace  with  the  Indians. 

When  Peter  Stuyvesant  learned  of  the  "  dishonorable  surrender  of 


CONQUEST  OF  NEW  SWEDEN.  43 

the  fort"  made  by  Gerrit  Bikker,  and  of  his  officers'  desertion  to  the 
Swedes,  with  a  third  of  his  men,  his  rage  was  mighty,  and  he  at  once 
reported  the  affair  to  Amsterdam,  where  his  anger  was  equaled  by  that 
of  the  directors.  A  Swedish  ship,  the  Golden  Shark,  entering  Man 
hattan  Bay  soon  after  by  mistake,  was  detained  "  until  a  reciprocal 
restitution  shall  have  been  made."  Meantime,  however,  Rising*  wrote 
home  an  account  of  his  success,  saying  that  whereas  he  found  but 
seventy  persons  in  New  Sweden,  there  were  then  three  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  who  acknowledged  his  authority,  "  including  Hollanders 
and  others." 

On  Sunday,  September  5th,  1655,  "after  the  sermon,"  Peter  Stuy- 
vesant,  with  seven  powerful  vessels  and  about  seven  hundred  men, 
sailed  from  Manhattan,  under  orders  from  Amsterdam,  for  the  sub 
jugation  of  New  Sweden.  The  next  (Monday)  afternoon  the  fleet 
was  off  Helsingborg,  then  in  ruins;  on  the  loth  of  the  month  the 
Dutch  forces  landed  near  Casimir,  which,  being  much  overpowered, 
surrendered  without  defense.  Rising  shut  himself  up  in  Fort  Christina, 
and,  though  closely  invested  from  the  1 5th,  held  out  until  the  25th  of 
September.  The  Swedish  town  having  been  sacked,  New  Sweden 
ravaged,  and  Christina  invested  by  an  overwhelming  force,  Rising,  to 
avoid  an  exterminating  bombardment,  surrendered,  and  the  flag  of 
Sweden,  which  in  defense  of  freedom  had  waved  victoriously  in  Europe, 
sank  to  rise  no  more  in  America. 

The  Dutch  forces  were  recalled  to  Manhattan  in  haste  to  repel  an 
Indian  invasion.  The  conquerers  had  been  in  New  Sweden  three 
weeks — a  body  of  men  twice  the  number  of  the  entire  Swedish  popu 
lation  living  on  the  country.  Consequently,  on  the  i8th  of  December, 
1655,  when  John  Paul  Jacquet  arrived  at  Zuydt  Riviere  as  Vice- 
Director  for  Stuyvesant,  out  of  an  original  population  of  nearly  four 
hundred  but  a  dozen  families  remained,  and,  besides,  Fort  Casimir  was 
no  better  than  a  ruin.  On  July  I2th,  1656,  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company  conceded  the  land  from  Boomtjes  Heuken  to  Cape  Hen- 
lopen  to  Amsterdam,  for  seven  hundred  thousand  guilders  ($266,000); 
this  territory  became  a  colony  of  that  municipality  of  Holland,  under 
the  name  of  Nieuwer  Amstel,  the  capital  being  at  the  present  New 
castle.  New  Amstel  was  ruled  with  much  rigor;  to  desert  the  colony 
was  punishable  with  death,  yet  the  numerous  emigrants  sent  out  by 
the  city  could  not  be  retained.  A  trading  post  and  small  garrison 
were  kept  up  at  the  Horekill,  where  in  1662  an  Anabaptist  "  Men- 
nonist"  community  of  twenty-five  families  settled  under  the  leadership 
of  Peter  Cornelis  Plockhoy.  The  Mennonists  were  a  liberal,  catholic, 
tolerant  people,  and  their  co-operative  institutions  were  very  free  and 
democratic.  For  several  years,  owing  to  disagreements  between  the 
authorities  of  Manhattan  and  New  Amstel,  and  between  both  of  them 
and  the  Governors  of  Maryland,  confusion  and  distress  continued  west 


44 


SCHBYICHB1  AND    THE  STRAND. 


of  the  Delaware,  and  the  dissatisfied  people  were  scattered  abroad  by 
repeated  alarms  and  panics. 

§  The  glorious  rise  and  progress  of  the  Batavian  Republic  astonished 
the  world;  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  greatness  of  Holland 

t>      o 

aroused  the  bitter  and  ignoble  jealousy  of  the  English.  In  1664,  in  a 
time  of  peace  and  progress,  England  made  a  treacherous  attack  upon 
the  Dutch.  On  the  8th  of  September,  Manhattan  and  New  Netherland 
were  peaceably  but  unavoidably  surrendered  to  a  piratical  expedition 
which  Charles  II.  of  England  sent  out  to  place  his  brother  James, 
Duke  of  York,  in  possession  of  the  province  of  the  Hollanders.  Sir 
Robert  Carr  was  sent  to  take  possession  of  the  Delaware.  Some  de 
fense  was  made  at  New  Amstel  by  Hinoyssa  the  Governor;  the  place 
was  captured,  however,  the  Dutch  soldiers  sold  into  Virginian  slavery, 
and  the  people  plundered,  even  of  their  farms  in  some  cases.  A  boat 
was  sent  to  the  Horekill  and  the  colony  there  was  robbed;  among  the 
goods  carried  off  was  "what  belonged  to  the  Quaking  Society  of  Plock- 
hoy,  to  a  very  naile."  The  court  of  England  tried  in  vain  to  justify 
these  acts  before  the  world  ;  they  merited  the  scorn  of  mankind.  Nine 
years  after,  even  Charles  II.  repented  of  his  buccaneering;  then  Hol 
land  opened  her  dikes,  and  aided  by  the  flood  defeated  two  hundred 
thousand  French  troops  with  twenty  thousand  man;  infinitely  bold 
against  desperate  odds,  the  Dutch,  at  the  same  time,  day  after  day 
outfought  the  fighting  ships  of  Britain,  until  the  shattered  fleet,  sailing 
as  from  an  infernal  scourge,  hid  behind  the  strongest  forts,  while  the 
revengeful  guns  of  De  Ruyter  and  Tromp  bellowed  in  insolent  triumph 
along  the  shores  of  England. 

By  the  overthrow  of  the  power  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company 
and  the  States  of  Holland  in  North  America,  James,  Duke  of  York, 
became  Governor  of  Now  Netherland.  Before  the  sailing  of  the  expe 
dition  for  the  conquest  of  Manhattan,  James  appointed  Nicolls,  its 
commander,  his  deputy,  to  act  as  such  after  the  subjugation  of  the 
Dutch  colony.  Nicolls  had  been  gone  from  England  but  a  month 
when,  on  the  twenty-third  of  June,  the  Duke  of  York,  well  knowing 
the  success  of  the  enterprise  was  assured  by  the  treachery  which  con 
ceived  it,  sold  to  Lord  John  Berkeley,  Privy  Councillor  and  Baron  of 
Stratton,  and  Sir  George  Carteret,  of  Sattrum,  Devon  County,  Knight, 
a  native  of  the  Isle  of  Jersey,  all  the  territory  now  included  in  the 
State  of  New  Jersey,  which  then  received  the  name  of  "  New  Jersey," 
or  Nova  Caesaria.  James  was  one  of  the  worst  bigots  of  the  English 
line  of  kings  ;  all  his  good  qualities,  as  a  man,  a  prince,  a  king,  were 
foiled  with  glaring  defects,  yet  in  his  honor  the  name  of  Manhattan  was 
changed  by  Nicolls  to  "  New  York,"  the  west  of  the  Hudson  was  called 
"Albania,"  and  Long  Island  received  the  appellation  of  "  Yorkshire  ;" 
thus  all  the  various  titles  of  the  Duke  were  foisted  upon  the  country 
at  once — the  force  of  flattery  could  no  farther  go. 


THE  ADMINISTRA  TION  OF  N2 COLLS. 


45 


The  flag  of  Britain  now  covered  the  coast  of  the  Colonies  which 
became  the  thirteen  original  United  States  ;  freedom  and  progress  were 
served  by  injustice  in  the  end,  but  the  people  of  New  York,  who 
imagined  the  privileges  of  Englishmen  were  to  be  adde.d  to  the  secure 
possession  of  their  property,  soon  had  reason  to  sigh  for  the  honest 
despotism  of  Stuyvesant,  to  save  them  from  the  extortions  of  their  new 
and  rapacious  governors;  while  the  Duke  of  York  and  his  agents 
were  presently  forced  to  realize  in  disappointment  that  the  profitable 
despotism  they  had  planned  was  impossible  among  such  a  people  as 
those  they  fancied  they  had  made  their  victims  and  servants. 

By  his  sale  to  Berkeley  and  Carteret,  the  Duke  of  York  prefigured 
the  outlines  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  and  unwittingly  forecast  the 
destiny  of  a  free  Commonwealth.  The  change  of  government  which 
had  made  Colonel  Nicolls  Governor  of  New  York  and  "  Albania"  and, 
as  President  of  the  Royal  Commission,  presumptive  potentate  of  New 
England,  was  of  vital  importance  to  the  people  of  the  Colonies,  especi 
ally  those  near  New  York ;  and  the  new  administration,  appreciative 
of  its  opportunities,  was  not  slow  to  energetically  assert  its  powers. 

The  citizens  of  New  Haven,  who  had  paid  six  hundred  pounds  for 
lands  on  the  Delaware,  and  perhaps  lost  as  much'  more  in  fruitless 
expeditions  thither,  who  had  remonstrated  with  Kieft,  quarreled  with 
Stuyvesant,  and  sought  the  aid  of  Cromwell,  through  their  General 
Court,  by  letter,  detailed  their  grievances  to  the  Royal  Commissioners; 
but  the  new  Governor  was  too  busy  to  pause  to  nicely  adjust  the  scales 
of  justice.  Ignoring  the  investitures  of  the  past  and  the  equities  of 
the  present,  heedless  of  its  own  engagements,  the  government  of  New 
York  devoted  itself  to  the  illegal  profit  of  its  officials  and  the  assidu 
ous  and  flattering  service  of  its  ducal  patron. 

Governor  Nicolls,  in  ignorance  of  the  sale  to  Berkeley  and  Carteret, 
made  more  than  two  months  before  the  capture  of  New  Netherland, 
named  New  Jersey  and  the  western  bank  of  the  Hudson  Albania, 
in  compliment  to  the  Scottish  title  of  the  Duke  of  York.  This  ter 
ritory  he  was  exceedingly  anxious  to  populate.  Tracts  of  land  on 
Hackensack  Neck  and  elsewhere  were  granted  to  parties  from  New 
England,  who,  as  required  by  Nicolls,  satisfied  the  claims  of  the  Indian 
residents.  The  Dutch,  in  1663,  had  given  a  party  of  Puritans  liberty 
to  settle  in  "Nova  Belgia"  (New  Jersey),  with  an  almost  independent 
charter  for  a  local  government,  and  the  settlements  under  Nicolls 
were  largely  the  outworking  of  similar  plans  by  other  "  Yankee"  asso 
ciations. 

The  pioneers  from  New  Haven,  and  those  who  soon  followed  them 
from  the  east,  brought  to  their  new  homes  the  same  dogmatic  temper 
and  theocratic  ideas  which  characterized  the  ecclesiastical  tyrannies  of 
early  New  England ;  but  with  them  they  brought  also  the  inflexible 
resolution  and  unceasing  industry  for  which  the  people  of  that  section 


46  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

have  ever  been  distinguished.  The  New  England  emigrants  soon  ac 
quired  the  influence  in  New  Jersey.their  pertinacious  habits  guaranteed 
from  the  first,  and  if  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  new  Common 
wealth  were  more  favorable  to  liberty  than  the  primitive  enactments  of 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  it  was  not  the  fault  of  the  conscien 
tiously  stubborn  Puritans ! 

While  Nicolls  by  every  means  encouraged  the  settlement  of  Albania, 
and  noted  with  pride  the  multiplying  farms  and  increasing  villages  from 
Bergen  to  Sandy  Hook,  news  came  that  the  action  of  the  dull  James 
of  York  had  disparted  his  Colony,  and  conceded  the  fairest  and  most 
promising  portion  to  overreaching  speculators.  In  August,  1665, 
Philip  Carteret  entered  New  Jersey,  and  by  virtue  of  the  provision 
which,  in  English  law,  vested  the  Proprietary  of  a  colony  with  juris 
diction,  assumed  the  office  of  Governor,  under  the  warrant  of  his  father 
and  Lord  Berkeley. 

Governor  Nicolls  was  much  vexed  at  the  unexpected  turn  thus  given 
affairs,  and  tried,  but  in  vain,  to  induce  the  Duke  of  York  to  compel 
the  reconveyance  of  the  territories  he  had  parted  with  in  ignorance  of 
their  value.  Berkeley  and  Carteret  remained  in  possession  and  control, 
but  it  was  a  long  time  before  the  duke  or  his  agents,  who  assumed  to 
hold  by  feudal  tenure,  ceased  to  claim  rightful  jurisdiction,  customs, 
rights, .and  paramount  sovereignty  under  the  King. 

The  few  settlers  Philip  Carteret  found  in  his  colony  were  well  dis 
posed  to  receive  him  as  their  Chief  Magistrate,  and  when  a  subsequent 
Governor  of  New  York  invaded  New  Jersey  to  intimidate  them  by  a  dis 
play  of  the  Royal  Patent,  the  sturdy  Puritans,  without  question  of  the 
validity  of  the  document  presented,  referred  to  Magna  Charta  as  "  the 
only  rule,  privilege,  and  joint  safety  of  every  free-born  Englishman," 
and  stood  like  a  wall  for  the  independence  of  New  Jersey.  The  begin 
ning  of  the  Commonwealth  was  but  small.  On  a  tract  of  land  once  sold 
by  the  Indians  to  the  Dutch,  and  afterwards  to  the  Puritans,  four 
houses  stood  in  the  same  neighborhood  ;  in  honor  of  Lady  Carteret  and 
her  kindness,  this  locality  was  called  Elizabethtown,  and  in  May,  1668, 
became  the  scene  of  a  Colonial  Legislature  and  the  capital  of  the 
Province. 

The  property  of  Berkeley  and  Carteret  was  almost  a  wilderness ;  to 
•induce  emigration  its  owners  had  sent  successful  messengers  to  New 
Haven  to  invite  the  rigid  Calvinists  to  a  home  on  their  shores,  while, 

•  at  the  same  time,  the  most  liberal  concessions  to  liberty  were  promised 
whoever  should  join  them  in  their  invasion  of  the  primeval  woodlands. 

The  Governor,  the  Council,  and   popular  Representatives  were  to 

•  create  the  laws,  persons  and  property  were  to  be  secure,  no  taxes  were 
to  be  levied  but  by  the  Colonial  Assembly,  both   Proprietaries  and 
people  were  to  unite  in  maintenance  of  their  mutual  rights,  even  against 
royal  imposition;  and  last  and  greatest  of  all,  "freedom  of  judgment, 


AN  ECONOMICAL   HERESY. 


47 


conscience,  and  worship"  were  guaranteed  every  peaceable  person.  The 
power  of  veto,  judicial  appointments,  and  the  executive  authority  were 
all  which  was  reserved  for  the  Proprietaries.  The  lands  of  the  new 
State  were  to  be  held  under  a  quit-rent  of  a  half-penny  an  acre,  the 
payment  of  which  was  deferred  for  five  years,  or  until  1670;  and  to 
please  the  Royal  Duke,  who  was  President  of  the  African  Company, 
a  bounty  of  seventy-five  acres  of  land  was  offered  for  the  importation 
of  every  able-bodied  negro  slave. 

As  the  Dutch  patroons  had  done,  settlers  were  required  to  base  the 
title  to  their  lands  in  equity,  by  a  fair  and  satisfactory  purchase  of  their 
estates  from  the  Indians. 

The  compact  of  New  Jersey  being  ratified  by  the  people,  and  peace 
prevailing  under  the  mild  sway  of  Philip  Carteret,  the  province  pros 
pered  and  increased,  encouraged  by  a  temperate  and  salubrious  climate, 
united  with  a  fruitful  soil  easy  of  tillage;  but  in  16/0  the  quit-rents 
became  due,  and  then  the  Puritans,  who,  in  New  Haven,  had  Arthur 
Smith  brought  into  Court  in  1659,  an<^  fined  fifty  pounds,  because  he 
expressed  some  of  the  "  divvilish  oppinions"  of  the  "  cursed  hereticks" 
the  Quakers,  developed  a  peculiar  heresy  of  their  own.  Referring  to 
their  well-thumbed  Bibles,  from  which  they  were  apt  to  wrench  a  text 
to  cover  any  purpose,  they  argued  that  Noah  was  the  original  proprietor 
of  New  Jersey,  having  in  himself  and  heirs  become  invested  with  the 
same  by  his  landing  on  Mount  Ararat,  directly  after  his  protracted 
voyage  in  the  ark.  The  title  having  thus  been  in  Noah,  as  they  argued, 
followed  his  descendants.  The  Indians  were  lineal  offspring  of  Noah, 
they  bought  their  lands  of  the  Indians,  and  hence,  particularly  as  Gov 
ernor  Nicolls  had  approved  the  deed  and  Carteret  himself  assented 
thereto,  they  refused  rent  which  was  merely  due  by  the  laws  of  Eng 
land  and  their  own  voluntary  contract  and  agreement. 

To  save  a  few  shillings,  the  Puritan  farmers  precipitated  anarchy, 
drove  Philip  Carteret  from  his  Governor's  chair,  and  hunted  William 
Pardon,  who  withheld  the  records  from  them,  out  of  the  country  as  if 
a  malefactor.  A  new  Governor  was  chosen  by  an  irregular  assembly 
of  delegates,  in  the  person  of  James  Carteret,  a  trifling  young  man,  an 
illegitimate  son  of  Sir  George;  and  while  the  legal  Governor,  leaving 
John  Berry  as  his  deputy,  voyaged  to  England  for  fresh  instructions 
and  renewed  authority,  the  revolutionists  cultivated  their  farms  in  peace, 
kept  the  quit-rents  in  their  pockets,  and  doubtless  regarded  Noah  as  a 
man  who  had  left  something  very  handsome  to  his  family.  Great  prin 
ciples  dawn  slowly  on  the  minds  of  men,  and  rightful  independence  and 
freedom  are  evolved,  age  after  age,  through  the  crimes  of  those  who 
grope  toward  truth  in  selfishness  and  disorder. 

While  toleration  was  established  in  New  Jersey  and  the  exercise  of 
freedom  urged  to  the  license  of  revolution,  Liberty  was  exiled  from 
New  York,  and  justice  banished  that  corruption  might  prostitute  the 


48  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

offices  of  government.  There  was  no  popular  representation,  the  Gov 
ernor  and  his  Council  made  the  laws,  decided  causes,  and  assumed 
executive  supremacy  ;  moreover,  the  functions  of  government  were 
made  means  of  extortion,  and  the  people  were  plundered  in  the  name 
of  law  and  security.  Contrary  to  the  stipulations  of  the  surrender, 
"  Even  the  Dutch  patents  for  land  were  held  to  require  renewal,  and 
Nicolls  gathered  a  harvest  of  fees  from  exacting  new  title-deeds." 
That  which  had  been  New  Sweden  was  retained  under  the  government 
of  New  York,  and  shared  the  evils  of  an  extortionate  oppression. 
Governor  Lovelace,  who  succeeded  Nicolls  in  1667,  added  to  the  trials 
of  the  people ;  even  the  Swedes  and  Finns  became  turbulent.  "The 
method  for  keeping  the  people  in  order  is  severity,"  said  Lovelace, 
"and  laying  such  taxes  as  may  give  them  liberty  for  no  thought  but 
how  to  discharge  them."  Regardless  of  the  liberties  of  New  Jersey, 
arbitrary  customs  were  collected  at  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware  by  the 
agents  of  the  Duke  of  York.  The  people  of  Maryland  invaded 
Lewestown  with  an  armed  force  in  1672,  to  establish  the  domain  of 
Lord  Baltimore  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware  ;  the  country  was  at 
once  reclaimed  by  Sir  Robert  Carr,  deputy  of  Governor  Lovelace,  as 
belonging  to  the  Duke  of  York  by  conquest. 

While  all  these  things  took  place,  the  claims  of  Berkeley  and  Carteret 
were 'reaffirmed  in  England,  and  it  seemed  that  trouble  was  impending 
for  the  New  Jersey  anti-renters ;  suddenly  the  political  kaleidoscope 
was  shifted  by  an  unexpected  hand — Evertsen  of  Zeeland,  command 
ing  a  Dutch  fleet,  appeared  in  New  York  harbor,  the  3Oth  of  July, 
1673  ;  again  without  a  blow  Manhattan  was  surrendered,  the  flag  of 
Holland  waved  once  more  over  New  Netherland.  The  unjust  war 
upon  Holland  became  unpopular  in  England,  and  Parliament  refused 
supplies  for  its  prosecution  ;  peace  was  declared  on  the  Qth  of  February, 
1674,  and  the  rights  of  neutral  flags  were  established  by  the  treaty  which 
followed,  Holland  under  the  teaching  of  Grotius  having  been  the 
first  to  claim  the  enfranchisement  of  the  ocean,  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 
By  treaty,  too,  England  regained  the  port  of  New  York,  with  the  geo 
graphical  unity  of  her  Colonies,  and  the  flag  of  Holland,  radiant  with  vic 
tory  and  honor,  was  finally  withdrawn  from  the  shores  of  North  America. 

Under  Edmund  Andros,  the  power  of  James  of  York  was  rein 
stated  at  Manhattan,  October  31,  1674.  The  narrow-minded  duke  had 
learned  nothing  from  experience,  and  though  Andros  was  a  better  man 
than  Nicolls  or  Carr,  yet  the  despotic  system  which  oppressed  the 
people  of  New  York  and  clutched  at  the  Charter  of  Connecticut  re 
mained.  Philip  Carteret  reappeared  in  New  Jersey,  and  renewed  after 
a  time  his  argumentative  warfare  for  rights  and  dues  according  to  feudal 
law  and  kingly  pleasure,  with  a  people  who  claimed  to  hold  their  lands 
from  Noah,  their  privileges  from  Magna  Charta,  and  their  faith  from 
private  judgment  of  the  infallible  word  of  God. 


PERSECUTION  OF  THE   QUAKERS.  49 

The  Proprietaries  of  New  Jersey  sought  above  all  things  for  profit 
from  their  province.  Their  liberal  concession  of  popular  rights  was  dic 
tated  by  a  policy  which,  however  laudable  in  its  means,  looked  to  the 
same  end  gained  by  the  piracies  of  Carr  and  the  maladministration 
and  extortion  of  Nicolls.  Lord  Berkeley  was  already  an  old  man;  as 
no  profit  had  been  derived  from  his  New  Jersey  property,  and  trouble 
was  still  apprehended  from  contumacious  subjects  and  disputatious 
tenants,  he  became  willing  to  withdraw  from  the  barren  adventure. 

Where  avarice  falters  in  discouragement,  and  ambition  halts  in  des 
pair,  the  love  of  liberty  populates  the  wilderness,  and  religious  enthu 
siasm  builds  the  institutions  of  the  State.  From  the  time  when  Charles 
I.  laid  his  head  upon  the  block  in  front  of  his  own  banquet  hall  in  1649, 
the  sufferings  of  "  the  peculiar  people,"  the  Quakers,  had  been  indescrib 
able  and  universal:  whoever  was  tolerated  they  were  disallowed;  they 
were  contemned,  insulted,  fined,  scourged,  imprisoned,  enslaved, 
maimed,  branded,  and  hung,  even  in  the  New  World.  In  England  all 
classes  united  to  persecute;  even  the  Presbyterians  declared  that  "hell 
had  broken  loose"  in  the  person  of  George  Fox,  and  the  mild  apostle 
was  forced  to  denounce  them  as  "  exceeding  rude  and  develish." 
"They  were  as  poor  sheep  appointed  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  people 
killed  all  day  long."  And  yet,  aside  from  the  irregularities  of  a  few 
fanatics,  such  as  are  found  in  all  sects,  the  offense  of  the  Quaker  was 
only  in  his  spirituality  and  his  democracy.  But  in  the  days  of  Fox  and 
Penn,  these  were  counted  worthy  of  stripes,  bonds,  and  death,  by  those 
who  worshiped  Churches  and  Kings  more  than  God;  and  even  those  who 
contended  to  the  uttermost  for  purity  of  soul,  and  the  right  of  private 
judgment  themselves,  turned  like  wolves  upon  a  people  who  gave  to 
the  Puritans'  version  of  the  rights  of  man  a  still  more  radical  translation. 

Resolute  to  bear  witness  in  testimony  of  the  truth  of  the  INWARD 
LIGHT,  ready  at  all  times  to  be  offered  up  a  sacrifice,  the  Quaker  pre 
served  the  serenity  of  his  reason,  whether  he  stood  amid  courts  in  the 
presence  of  kings  as  a  Counselor  and  Friend,  or  perished  from  hunger, 
cold,  and  neglect  amid  the  frozen  filth  of  dungeons.  He  who  "affirmed" 
himself  the  peer  of  peers,  wore  his  hat  as  only  a  peer  by  law  might  do;  the 
"  Friend"  was  ready  with  his  "  th.ee"  and  "  thou,"  and  other  titles  he 
would  have  none;  but  "plain  speech"  was  not  impertinent  language, 
and  formal  dress  meant  other  things  than  eccentricities  of  character. 

Determined  on  freedom,  the  Friend  was  not  bent  on  useless  martyr 
dom,  and  while  Fox  journeyed  as  a  missionary,  and  Penn  traveled  as 
a  preacher,  the  iconoclasts  cast  about  for  an  asylum  for  the  persecuted, 
a  land  where  "  Salem"  might  be  founded,  where  "  the  Holy  Experi 
ment"  might  be  tried,  and,  God  willing,  "  Philadelphia"  arise  to  wel 
come  to  the  "  city  of  brotherly  love"  the  universal  tribe  of  man.  Penn 
traversed  Europe,  Fox  the  colonies  of  America;  nowhere  was  there  to 
be  found  rest  and  peace,  except  perhaps  in  the  narrow  confines  of 


50  SCHEYICHBI  AND   THE  STRAND. 

Rhode  Island.  New  Netherland  turned  aside  from  the  policy  of  Fader- 
landt,  and  half  tolerating  Lutherans;  Stuyvesant  had  only  imprison 
ment,  labor  in  chains,  and  the  dungeons  of  Fort  Amsterdam  for  "  the 
new,  unheard-of,  abominable  heresy,  called  Quakers." 

At  last  light  dawned  from  afar,  and  in  New  Jersey  there  was  hope. 
Edward  Byllinge,  by  John  Fenwick,  as  trustee  for  himself  and  his 
assigns,  bought  of  Lord  John  Berkeley,  in  1675,  for  a  thousand  pounds, 
one  undivided  half  of  New  Jersey;  under  this  indirect  purchase  mis 
understandings  arose,  but  they  were  managed  by  the  arbitration  of 
William  Penn,  to  whom,  with  Gawen  Laurie  and  Nicholas  Lucas,  Byllinge 
finally  assigned  his  property  for  the  benefit  of  his  creditors. 

In  June,  1675,  Major  John  Fenwick,  claiming  his  own  right  as  an 
associate  in  the  purchase  with  Byllinge,  arrived  in  the  Delaware  in  the 
ship  Griffith,  "  with  a  large  company  and  several  families."  The  arbi 
trators  had  assigned  one-tenth  of  Byllinge's  purchase  to  Fenwick,  with 
a  sum  of  money  as  his  share  ;  he  assumed  the  character  and  style  of 
Lord  Chief  Proprietor.  Near  where  the  people  of  New  Haven  had 
settled  on  Varcken's  Kill,  not  far  from  the  site  of  the  Swedish  fort 
Helsingborg,  and  where  the  relics  of  unknown  pioneers  were  found,  the 
colony  of  "  plain  John  Fenwick"  also  selected  their  location,  and,  feel 
ing  secure  at  last,  landed  upon  the  peaceful  shores  and  bestowed  the 
name  of  "  Salem"  upon  the  place.  Byllinge  had  failed,  and,  in  the 
interest  of  his  creditors,  the  nine-tenths  of  one  undivided  half  of  New 
Jersey,  left  to  his  estate,  was  offered  for  sale  in  decimal  shares  of  tenths 
and  hundredths ;  to  carry  out  the  purpose  of  an  asylum  for  the  perse 
cuted,  these  shares  were  largely  taken  up  by  Quakers. 

To  found  his  colony,  John  Fenwick  had  borrowed  money  of  John 
Eldridge  and  Edmund  Warner,  giving  his  tenth  of  the  Byllinge  pur 
chase  as  security,  with  the  right  to  sell  lands  therefrom  to  their  satis 
faction.  Eldridge  and  Warner  conveyed  their  claim  to  the  trustees, 
Laurie,  Penn,  and  Lucas.  Fenwick  still  asserted  himself  in  all  the 
qualities  of  Lord  Chief  Proprietor,  refusing  to  abide  by  the  results  of 
arbitration.  The  rights  and  claims  of  Fenwick  were  a  sore  trial  to 
Penn,  and  he  and  his  associates  have  been  accused  of  duplicity  in  re 
gard  to  the  matter,  how  justly  or  unjustly  still  seems  a  matter  of  dis 
pute  ;  however  it  may  have  been,  Fenwick  abode  in  his  place,  and  as 
long  as  he  lived  gave  token  of  an  uncompromising  and  dauntless,  even 
if,  at  times,  impolitic  and  arbitrary  spirit. 

As  soon  as  the  matter  of  ownership  was  adjusted,  the  Quakers  se 
cured  from  Carteret  a  division  of  the  estate.  Anxious  to  come  into  pos 
session  of  their  territory,  where  they  could  institute  a  government,  the 
Friends  haggled  not  for  advantage,  and  Carteret,  conscious  of  having 
the  best  of  the  bargain,  readily  fell  in  with  their  proposals.  The  line 
of  division  ran  from  Egg  Harbor  to  a  point  on  the  Delaware  River, 
under  the  forty-first  degree  of  north  latitude,  and  near  Burlington  ;  the 


"THE  POWER   IN  THE  PEOPLE."  5! 

lands  to  the  north  and  east  were  to  be  left  to  Carteret,  and  those  to  the 
southward  and  west,  under  the  name  of  WEST  NEW  JERSEY,  became 
the  property  of  Quaker  associates. 

Long  accustomed  to  endure  suffering,  competent  as  critics  and 
preachers,  "  the  peculiar  people"  were  now  to  be  more  severely  tested ; 
they  were  required  to  build,  to  organize,  to  govern  and  enjoy.  Con 
sulting  among  themselves  in  England,  the  Friends  evolved  their  scheme 
of  government.  "  The  CONCESSIONS  are  such  as  Friends  approve  of," 
wrote  the  Quaker  Proprietaries  to  those  already  in  their  land  of  rest. 
"  We  lay  a  foundation  for  after-ages  to  understand  their  liberty  as 
Christians  and  as  men,  that  they  may  not  be  brought  into  bondage, 
but  by  their  own  consent,  for  we  put  THE  POWER  IN  THE  PEOPLE." 

The  basis  of  the  Quaker  State  was  democratic  equality  ;  methodically 
and  clearly  the  "  agreements"  stated  the  sublime  affirmations  of  the 
Quaker,  and  in  harmony  therewith  promulgated  the  "  fundamentals" 
of  the  highest  form  of  actual  government  the  world  has  ever  known. 
Freedom  of  conscience,  the  ballot-box,  equality  before  the  law,  the 
right  of  assembly,  freedom  of  election,  freedom  of  speech,  freedom  of 
the  press,  popular  sovereignty,  trial  by  jury,  open  courts,  free  legisla 
tures,  all  these  were  provided  for  in  West  Jersey,  in  March,  1677. 
What  more  ?  No  poor  man  could  be  imprisoned  for  debt,  none  held 
as  slaves  ;  there  was  free  access  to  the  courts,  where  each  man  might 
plead  for  himself;  the  judge,  an  appointee  of  the  assembly  for  two  years 
only,  merely  announced  the  law,  the  jury  gave  both  the  verdict  and 
the  sentence ;  where  Indians  were  concerned  the  natives  were  to  make 
half  the  jurymen.  The  statutes  prescribed  were  admirable  and  con 
sonant  with  the  Constitution,  the  whole  wise,  just,  and  discriminating, 
full  of  justice,  benevolence,  and  protection  even  to  the  humblest  deni 
zen  of  the  aboriginal  woods.  The  helpless  orphan  became  the  ward 
of  the  State,  and  the  child  of  misfortune  was  educated  at  the  cost  of  the 
Commonwealth. 

The  honor  and  fame  of  William  Penn  are  borne  toward  future  ages 
with  the  progress  of  the  mighty  State  that  bears  his  name ;  but,  let  it 
be  remembered,  in  West  Jersey  his  inspired  mind  and  benevolent  heart 
first  wrought  out  his  model  of  a  state,  and  there,  and  there  alone,  his 
will  and  his  purpose  became  the  law  and  rule  of  a  happy  people. 
Every  acre  of  New  Jersey  has  been  fairly  bought  of  the  Indian  tribes. 
West  Jersey  is  unstained  by  Indian  blood.  "You  are  our  brothers," 
said  the  sachems  ;  "  we  will  live  like  brothers  with  you.  The  path 
shall  be  plain  ;  there  shall  not  be  in  it  a  stump  to  hurt  the  feet." 
"  Their  ways  were  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all  their  paths  were 
peace." 

The  "  holy  experiment"  had  been  established,  and  thus  far  was  success 
ful  ;  troubles  and  trials  came  at  length,  but  new  precedents  met  novel 
emergencies,  and  staid  historians  who  describe  the  time  break  forth 


52  SCHEYICHDI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

in  poetic  rhapsody  to  tell  of  the  happiness  of  the  people.  "  The  people 
rejoiced  under  the  reign  of  God."  "  Everything  went  well  in  West 
New  Jersey." 

Meantime,  the  trustees  of  Sir  George  Carteret  grew  tired  of  Colonial 
burdens  and  trials  without  return,  and  proposed  the  sale  of  East  New 
Jersey.  The  estate  was  purchased  by  William  Penn  and  eleven  others, 
the  first  and  second  days  of  Februa'ry,  1682,  for  three  thousand  four 
hundred  pounds;  possession  was  taken  in  November,  1682.  by  Deputy 
Governor  Thomas  Rudyard,  for  the  Association.  New  Jersey  was  now 
entirely  in  the  possession  of  Friends,  but  in  East  Jersey  were  found  a 
large  number  of  "  sober  professing  people"  of  the  Calvinist  persuasion, 
and  sound  policy  seemed  to  require  a  more  varied  board  of  propri 
etaries.  Accordingly,  each  Friend  selected  a  partner,  and,  to  the 
twenty-four,  a  new  patent  was  issued  by  the  Duke  of  York.  The  King 
also  confirmed  all  the  transactions  by  declaration  in  November,  1683. 
The  partners  were  not  all  Quakers,  but  one  of  them,  who  was  a  Friend, 
the  able  Robert  Barclay,  of  Urie,  Scotland,  was  made  Governor,  and 
afterwards  became  Governor  for  life. 

While  important  events  thus  followed  each  other  in  New  Jersey, 
William  Penn  secured  his  grant  of  Pennsylvania,  and,  late  in  the 
autumn  of  1682,  he  held  a  meeting  at  Shackamaxon  to  which  the 
Indians  of  Pennsylvania  were  invited,  and  where  the  spirit  moved  Penn 
to  preach  a  Quaker  sermon, — the  same  gospel  George  Fox  announced 
to  Cromwell,  and  which  Mary  Fisher  delivered  among  the  armies  of 
the  Turks  and  bore  to  the  Sultan,  "  Commander  of  the  Faithful." 
"We  are  all  one  flesh  and  blood,"  said  Penn.  "We  will  live  in  love 
with  William  Penn  and  his  children  as  long  as  the  moon  and  the  sun 
shall  endure,"  answered  the  "savages;"  and  they  kept  their  word,  and 
long  treasured  the  tradition  of  that  day's  speech  from  Onias,  the  great 
Father  of  the  Qnekels.  Says  Bancroft,  "  Not  a  drop  of  Quaker  blood 
was  ever  shed  by  an  Indian." 

But  the  affairs  of  Pennsylvania  became  too  vast  for  personal  super 
intendence,  and  the  agents  of  Penn  in  the  purchase  of  lands,  in  making 
of  treaties,  often  forgot  his  gospel  and  disregarded  the  wishes  of  his 
gentle  soul.  In  time  "the  world's  people"  rolled  in  on  Pennsylvania 
like  a  flood;  professing  obedience  to  Biblical  law,  and  denouncing 
"vengeance  on  the  heathen,"  they  themselves  selfishly  trampled  on  all 
law,  human  anxi  divine,  and,  under  the  hypocrite's  cloak  of  zeal  for  the 
glory  of  God,  defied  the  rights  of  Penn  and  his  assigns,  overrode  the 
laws  of  the  Province,  intruded  without  warrant  upon  the  lands  of  the 
tribes,  and  imbrued  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  the  Indian  with  every 
circumstance  of  base  atrocity,  even  to  those  who  knelt  at  the  name  of 
Jesus  and  shared  with  the  Moravian  saints  the  bread  and  w  ne  of  the 
Christian  Sacrament.  In  1682,  Penn  promised  the  Indians,  "  No  advan 
tage  shall  be  taken  on  either  side,  but  all  shall  be  openness  and  love." 


THE   CRUEL   POLICY  OF   THE  STUARTS. 


53 


In  1685,  the  agents  of  Penn  shamefully  defrauded  the  tribes  of  their 
lands  to  the  Susquehanna,  and,  in  1764,  John  and  Richard  Penn,  the 
sons  of  "  FatJier  Onias"  sanctioned  Lieutenant-Governor  Cadwallader's 
offer  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  the  scalp  of  an  Indian,  and 
one  hundred  and  thirty-four  dollars  for  scalps  which  bore  the  hair  of  a 
squaw  !  The  Pennsylvania  Quakers,  many  of  them,  labored  faithfully 
and  not  in  vain  in  the  cause  of  justice  and  mercy,  as  they  had  light, 
but  the  student  who  seeks  the  logical  issue  of  the  principles  of  Fox 
and  Penn  starts  back  in  grief  and  horror  from  the  blood-stained  soil  of 
Pennsylvania,  to  follow  the  record  of  events  east  of  the  Delaware. 

Theological  predestination  means  political  democracy.  Quakerism 
is  the  democracy  intended,  and  yet  predestination  alone  separates  the 
Friend  and  the  Calvinist.  "  The  nearer  the  relation,  the  worse  the 
quarrel,"  and  in  all  the  weary  years,  from  George  Fox,  in  1649,  to  the 
death  of  Charles  II.,  in  1685,  Presbyterians  in  England  were  the  perse 
cutors  of  Friends  ;  and  in  Massachusetts  the  Puritans  ordered  that  the 
ears  of  the  Quakers  be  cut  off,  and  their  tongues  bored  with  a  red-hot 
iron.  They  were  Calvinists  who,  in  Boston,  in  1659,  put  Marmaduke 
Stephenson,  William  Robinson,  and  William  Leddra  to  death  on  the 
gallows  for  preaching  Quakerism  in  Massachusetts,  and  hung  Mary 
Dyar  on  Boston  Common,  the  same  year,  for  the  same  offense  ! 

Cromwell  died,  the  Stuarts  were  restored,  Charles  II.  reigned  for  the 
quarter  of  a  century ;  the  zealous  fanaticism  of  the  Calvinist  Round 
heads  was  succeeded  by  the  superstition  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  the 
last  deepened  by  the  excesses  of  the  first.  Monarchy  was  absolute  in 
church  and  state  in  the  last  days  of  Charles  II.,  "Independents"  were 
marked  for  destruction,  and  "  Presbyterians," — they  who  since  the  time 
of  Edward  VI.  had  originated  each  struggle  for  popular  freedom,  they 
who  always  dreamed  of  republics,  whose  creed  taught  insubordination 
as  a  dogma, — what  had  they  to  expect  ?  It  was  in  Scotland  that  the 
policy  of  the  Stuarts  bore  its  ripest  fruit;  there  the  crime  of  Cromwell 
in  the  execution  of  King  Charles  I.  was  ten  thousand  times  revenged. 
Of  the  Cameronians,  of  the  Covenanters,  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterians, 
what  can  be  said?  Nothing  exceeded  the  cruelty,  the  brutality,  the 
mad,  exterminating  barbarity  visited  upon  them,  except,  forever,  the 
fortitude  with  which  they  confronted  those  who  slew  them !  The 
magistrates  of  Boston,  in  1659,  were  tender  nursing  mothers — angels  of 
mercy — compared  to  Claverhouse  and  Lauderdale  and  Jeffreys,  the 
minions  of  episcopacy  and  the  king. 

Atrocity  incited  insurrection,  but  the  adherents  of  Monmouth  were 
borne  down,  and  the  penalties  of  treason  superadded  to  the  inflictions 
of  persecution.  All  who  had  ever  communed  with  rebels  were  con 
demned  ;  twenty  thousand  lives  awaited  the  executioner,  safe  only  in 
the  forbearance  of  the  informers.  In  the  name  of  law,  the  common 
dragoons,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  soldiery,  were  made  magistrates  and 


54 


SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 


judges  over  families  of  rank  and  wealth  and  women  of  culture,  as  well  as 
the  peasantry  of  the  mountains.  The  discretion  of  the  ruffians  themselves 
furnished  the  instructions  of  this  banditti,  but  royal  mercy  moderated 
their  rigor.  Summary  murder  was  forbidden,  and  women  were  to  be 
allowed  to  die  without  dishonor ;  no  other  restriction  was  imposed. 
To  whom,  among  the  bloodhounds  of  vengance,  should  a  maiden  make 
her  complaint  of  outrage,  and  when  have  the  dead  returned  to  convict 
their  assassins  ? 

There  was  not  room  in  jail  for  all  the  Covenanters;  the  prisoners 
were  sold  into  plantation  slavery,  and  the  price  of  blood  shared  by 
royal  favorites.  Presbyterians  were  hunted  like  vermin,  with  dogs  and 
guns,  by  mounted  men  led  on  by  swarming  spies ;  it  was  death  to 
house  them,  death  to  throw  them  bread,  death  to  listen  to  complaints 
of  theirs ;  did  a  wife,  a  husband,  a  father,  a  child,  a  parent,  comfort  their 
own  kind,  death  was  the  doom  of  both  the  sufferer  and  the  friend.  It 
was  more  than  human  nature  could  endure,  and  the  bewildered,  de 
spairing  victims  of  an  infernal  crusade  turned  at  bay  and  threatened 
retaliation.  Such  is  the  courage  of  the  hunted,  bleating  ewe,  when 
bloody  wolves  rage  round  the  mangled  flock.  The  threat  of  resistance 
was  answered  by  the  order  for  massacre.  As  they  labored,  as  they 
prayed,  as  they  journeyed,  as  they  fled,  the  Covenanters  were  shot 
down  ;  their  estates  were  plundered,  their  houses  burned,  their  families 
hurried  away  to  distant  colonies. 

James  II.  came  to  the  throne;  he  only  added  the  aggravation  of  a 
delusive  pretense  of  clemency  to  the  miseries  of  the  people.  The 
victims  of  cruelty  sought  in  flight  safety  from  death;  every  day  com 
panies  of  fugitives  were  arrested  by  the  troops  ;  juries  of  soldiers  trying 
them  beside  the  highways,  they  were  condemned  in  a  body  and  shot 
in  heaps  together.  Beside  the  sea  women  were  tied  to  stakes  at  ebb 
of  tide,  far  out  upon  the  strand  ;  the  pitiless  tide  returned  by  slow 
degrees,  and,  mocked  by  the  ribaldry  of  the  troops,  who  laughed  at  the 
amusing  spectacle,  they  were  gradually  and  agonizingly  drowned.  The 
dungeons  were  crowded  with  men  ;  for  food,  for  water,  for  air,  they 
prayed  in  vain  ;  starved,  choked  with  thirst,  or  suffocated,  they  died  in 
breathless  torture.  But  the  Government  of  England  was  not  merciless. 
When  the  dungeons  would  hold  no  more,  living  or  dead;  when  the 
assassin  tired  of  murder;  when  only  suspicion  indicated  a  victim  ;  when 
a  whim  suggested  forbearance,  then  shipload  after  shipload,  in  crowds 
the  wretched,  plundered,  ill-provided  exiles  were  sold  and  exported 
to  America.  Still  monarchy  and  episcopacy  laid  their  hands  upon 
them  as  they  left  their  native  land;  some  of  the  men  were  allowed  to 
retain  a  single  ear,  but  others  were  deprived  of  both,  while  upon  the 
cheeks  of  fair  women  and  matrons  the  branding-iron  was  often  deeply 
set,  while  a  royal  mandate  crossed  the  Atlantic  to  forbid  mercy  or 
mitigation  of  their  slavery. 


THE    TEACHING    OF  THE   INWARD   LIGHT.  55 

Now  how  might  the  Quaker  exult  in  his  happy  home  between  the 
Delavyare  and  the  sea,  and,  secure  in  the  immunities  of  his  own  freedom, 
reflect  that  the  Lord  had  revenged  his  wrongs  upon  those  who  had 
joined  with  the  multitude  to  do  him  evil !  Had  the  FRIEND  been  other 
than  "  friendly,"  now  was  the  time  to  satiate  his  malice,  for  the  groans 
of  his  tormentors  were  in  his  ears,  his  eyes  witnessed  the  full  measure 
of  their  suffering. 

But  what  revenge  may  men  take  to  whom  the  INWARD  LIGHT  dic 
tates  a  rule  of  action  ?  During  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  James,  then 
Duke  of  York,  was  the  friend  of  Admiral  Penn,  and,  just  before  the 
admiral's  death,  pledged  him  the  same  regard  for  William  Penn,  his 
son.  When  the  duke  came  to  the  throne  as  James  II.,  William  Penn 
had  great  influence.  The  king,  a  bigoted  Roman  Catholic  himself, 
stood  in  need  of  toleration  in  England,  where  the  Established  Church, 
though  persecuting  the  Covenanters  to  the  death,  hated  Romanism 
more.  The  Papist  king  persecuted  Protestant  dissenters  to  win  the 
political  favor  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  plea  of  Penn  was  for 
toleration,  not  for  himself  alone,  but  for  all ;  he  averted  persecution 
from  Roman  Catholics  on  the  one  hand,  and  restrained  as  far  as  in  him 
lay  the  storm  of  rage  which  overwhelmed  the  Presbyterians.  He  was 
accused  of  Jesuitism,  popery,  and  treason  in  consequence,  and,  though 
disproving  every  charge,  became  suspected  by  men  of  all  parties  be 
cause  he  was  active  in  defense  of  the  common  rights  of  each. 

When  Penn  moved  in  the  purchase  of  New  Jersey,  it  was  not  merely 
as  an  asylum  for  Friends,  but  to  provide  a  home  for  all  who  suffered 
for  conscience.  No  sooner  was  New  Jersey  under  Quaker  control 
than  a  fair  and  reasonable  description  of  it  was  published,  and  an 
account  of  its  free  and  tolerant  institutions  forwarded  therewith  to 
Scotland.  The  Quaker  founded  a  State  in  freedom,  and  made  it  the 
home  and  asylum  of  those  who  had  deprived  him  of  liberty  and  life. 
And  this  was  the  revenge  of  the  men  with  broad-brimmed  hats,  who 
"  theed  and  thoud"  alike  the  plowboy  and  the  monarch.  To  be  true 
to  principle  regardless  of  persons,  to  resist  not  evil,  but  return  good 
for  evil, — such  has  been  the  teaching  of  the  INWARD  LIGHT.  In  Judea 
or  New  Jersey  the  gospel  was  the  same:  "Do  good  unto  them  who 
despitefully  use  you."  Well  had  the  Quaker  heeded  the  teacher,  and 
well  had  he  comprehended  the  lesson  ! 

Convinced  of  the  purpose  of  the  Government  of  England  "  to  sup 
press  Presbyterian  principles  altogether,"  and  perceiving  that  "the 
whole  force  of  the  law  of  this  kingdom  is  (was)  leveled  at  the  effectual 
bearing  them  down,"  the  ruined  Scotch  Presbyterians,  in  whose  souls 
a  sense  of  duty  to  God  forbade  conformity  to  human  assumptions,  were 
ready,  as  soon  as  the  way  opened,  to  abandon  even  "bonnie  Scotland," 
since  apostasy  alone  could  ransom  their  lives  in  their  native  land.  A 
number  of  Scottish  Covenanters  arrived  in  East  Jersey  in  1682. 


56  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

George  Scot,  of  Pitlochie,  was  a  leader  among  the  emigrants.  "  A  re 
treat,  where  by  law  a  toleration  is  allowed,"  said  he  to  his  neighbors 
and  fellow-suffering  countrymen,  "  doth  at  present  offer  itself  in  Amer 
ica,  and  is  no  where  else  to  be  found  in  his  Majesty's  dominions." 
To  America,  to  East  New  Jersey,  came  George  Scot  and  family,  and 
about  two  hundred  others,  in  1685.  During  the  following  year,  after 
the  Duke  of  Argyle  had  been  put  to  death  under  mere  pretense  of 
law,  Lord  Neill  Campbell,  the  brother  of  the  murdered  nobleman,  be 
came,  by  purchase  from  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  one  of  the  Proprietors 
of  East  New  Jersey.  Lord  Campbell  sent  over  a  large  number  of  set 
tlers,  and,  coming  himself  for  a  time,  acted  for  some  months  as  the 
Chief  Magistrate.  Lord  Campbell  was  succeeded  in  office  by  Alex 
ander  Hamilton ;  the  power  of  the  Proprietaries  was  inconsiderable. 
Monarchy  had  no  call  to  the  New  World,  there  it  existed  only  by 
its  feudal  shadaw;  feudalism  was  already  outworn  in  Europe,  and  of 
the  outworn  shadow  Proprietary  Government  4<  was  that  shadow's 
shade." 

But  what  need  of  thrones,  of  nobles,  of  titles,  of  cumbrous  institu 
tions  to  this  people?  They  who  held  themselves  as  sons  of  God,  co 
heirs  with  Christ;  whose  glory  was  foreordained  in  the  eternal  coun 
cils  of  the  Almighty,  and  their  names  written  in  the  "  Lamb's  Book  of 
Life,"  from  the  foundation  of  the  world — the  elect,  the  redeemed,  the 
sanctified,  the  persevering  saints;  the  children  of  the  COVENANT! 
Virtue,  education,  courage,  experience,  they  had  them  all ;  religion  in 
spired  them,  the  love  of  liberty  controlled  them  ;  nature  gave  them 
the  harbors  of  Scotland,  the  fertility  of  England,  and  the  climate  of 
France  ;  with  the  forests,  the  game,  the  fish,  the  fruits,  and  the  freedom 
of  America,  beside  the  "  curious  clear  water"  which  flowed  in  abun 
dant  brooks  and  rivulets  along  the  healthful  vales  of  New  Jersey.  The 
ocean  rolled  between  them  and  persecution,  between  them  and  every 
hostile  tribe  abode  peaceful  Quakers,  who  practiced  a  blessed  white 
magic  upon  the  wildmen,  and  transformed  them  to  philanthropists. 
There  was  a  world  of  room,  great  flocks  of  sheep  pastured  beside  the 
roads  of  imperial  width,  and  troops  of  horses  fit  to  mount  the  squad 
rons  of  a  king  bred  and  multiplied  uncared  for  in  the  woods.  Not 
thus  grew  the  many  children  of  the  Scottish  Calvinists,  as  in  New 
England  free  schools  were  soon  provided  for,  and  education  and  moral 
training  cared  for  the  coming  generation. 

Indians,  Puritans,  Quakers,  and  Covenanters  held  in  peace  and  uni 
versal  prosperity  the  soil  of  New  Jersey.  Toleration  is  a  narrow  word: 
they  met  on  the  broad  platform  of  equal  rights,  of  judgment,  and 
mutual  union  for  the  common  weal  and  wealth.  America  welcomed 
every  sect,  predominant  bigotry  became  impossible.  The  pioneers  of 
New  Jersey  were  strong  souls  with  varied  thoughts ;  there  moderate 
counsel  has  prevailed,  and  seeking  to  preserve  the  rights  of  each,  the 


PRIMITIVE   GOVERNMENT  IN  NEW  JERSEY.  57 

people  have  maintained  the  noblest  freedom,  and  fostered  the  prosperity 
and  happiness  of  all. 

James  II.,  fickle  and  inconsistent  in  everything  but  personal  selfish 
ness  and  the  greed  for  arbitrary  power,  had  no  sooner  reached  the 
throne  than' he  undertook  to  make  the  colonies  "more  dependent." 
In  New  York  the  honest  advice  of  Penn,  which  was  demanded  in 
1682  by  the  duke,  won  for  that  State  her  "charter  of  liberties,"  but 
James,  as  king,  trampled  upon  his  engagements  as  duke;  tyranny 
returned  in  New  York,  and  the  Proprietaries  of  New  Jersey  were 
compelled  to  surrender  their  rights  of  jurisdiction.  Sovereignty  over 
New  Jersey  was  merged  in  the  crown  in  1688.  For  three  years 
after  1689  East  New  Jersey  had  "  no  government  whatever."  For 
twelve  years  the  whole  of  the  province  was  without  settled  administra 
tion  or  recognized  Governors.  The  Proprietors,  anxious  to  preserve 
the  forms  of  law,  tried  in  vain  to  exercise  a  power  they  had  renounced, 
but,  divided  among  themselves,  they  but  divided  the  people,  the  courts 
and  the  records  shared  the  confusion,  politicians  pushed  their  disagree 
ments,  but  the  virtue  of  the  people  preserved  society. 

The  crimes  of  James  II.  against  the  Dissenters  failed  to  secure  for 
him,  as  a  Papist  monarch,  the  alliance  of  the  Church  of  England;  in 
revenge,  he  proclaimed  equal  franchises  to  every  sect ;  toleration  was 
to  weaken  the  episcopacy,  and  reconcile  the  English  to  Rome;  it 
brought  William  of  Orange  to  the  throne  of  Britain,  in  1688,  and  drove 
James  II.  into  poverty  and  exile.  The  advent  of  William  was  a  great 
revolution  in  England:  it  secured  toleration  for  all  Protestants,  and 
established  the  rights  of  the  subject  on  the  basis  of  English  law. 

When,  in  1702,  Queen  Anne  came  to  reign,  matters  in  New  Jersey 
were  still  unsettled,  the  law  officers  of  the  crown  questioned  the  selfish 
arrangements  of  those  who  had  for  gain  bought  out  original  Proprie 
taries,  and  Parliament  threatened  interference  in  a  province  "  where  no 
regular  government  had  ever  been  established."  The  Proprietaries,  to 
avoid  litigation  which  might  have  endangered  their  ownership  of  land 
as  well  as  their  pretended  rights  as  Governors,  surrendered  their  claims 
to  jurisdiction,  unreservedly,  before  the  Privy  Council  of  England, 
April  17,  1702.  As  simple  owners  of  land,  the  Proprietaries  managed 
to  retain  their  full  rights,  and  became  merged  in  the  landholders  of  the 
province,  their  titles  descending  unimpaired  to  their  assigns  and  heirs. 
After  the  surrender  of  the  Proprietary,  the  whole  of  New  Jersey  was 
governed  by  a  royal  Governor,  it  never  again  obtained  a  charter  ;  power 
was  monopolized  by  officers  under  royal  instructions,  and  toleration 
denied  Papists;  "no  printing-press  might  be  kept,"  or  any  publication 
made  without  license  ;  meantime,  the  traffic  "  in  merchantable  negroes  " 
was  stimulated  by  every  means  in  the  power  of  the  provincial  govern 
ment,  under  instructions  from  the  throne.  Thus  the  power  of  monarchy 
found  the  refugees  in  the  forest;  but  Quakers,  Puritans,  and  Presby- 


5  8  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

terians  united  in  a  stubborn,  able,  and  yet  orderly  struggle  for  former 
freedom.  Peacefully  but  sternly  the  debate  had  begun,  to  end  in 
making  New  Jersey  a  sovereign  state,  in  an  independent  confederacy. 

The  disputes  as  to  jurisdiction,  titles,  etc.,  between  the  Duke  of  York 
and  the  proprietors  of  West  Jersey — the  trustees  of  Edward  Byllinge — 
were  decided  by  Sir  William  Jones,  in  1680,  in  favor  of  the  proprietors  ; 
but  the  duke,  in  his  new  patent,  unwarrantably  made  Byllinge  heredi 
tary  Governor.  The  nomination  was  unprovided  for  in  the  constitution 
of  West  Jersey,  but  to  avoid  further  trouble  a  precedent  was  made,  and 
Byllinge  elected  ;  he,  however,  continued  in  London,  having  little  in 
fluence  in  the  province. 

In  1687,  Byllinge  died,  and  Doctor  Daniel  Coxe,  of  London,  him 
self  a  principal  West  Jersey  proprietor,  bought  the  claims  of  the  heirs 
of  the  Governor,  and  undertook  to  organize  a  government,  by  adopting 
the  constitution  of  England  in  place  of  the  original  Quaker  Conces 
sions.  Near  Town  Bank,  Cape  May,  on  Coxehall  Creek,  Dr.  Coxe 
built  "  Coxe  Hall"  for  a  residence;  on  the  draft  of  a  primitive  survey, 
made  in  1691,  the  edifice  appears,  adorned  with  a  tower  or  spire,  quite 
in  contrast  with  the  original  cluster  of  whalemen's  cottages,  not  far 
away.  The  above-mentioned  survey  was  made  by  John  Worlidge  and 
John  Budd,  who,  coming  down  from  Burlington,  laid  off  ninety-five 
thousand  acres  of  land  in  Cape  May  County  for  Dr.  Coxe.  The 
people  were  not  inclined  to  co-operate  with  the  new  Governor  in  his 
designs,  and  he  labored  in  vain  to  establish  the  feudalism  of  England 
on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware;  still  he  continued  to  speculate  in  Indian 
lands,  and  a  few  of  the  original  settlers  of  Cape  May  secured  their 
estates  directly  from  his  agents. 

Dr.  Coxe  was  a  man  of  vast  enterprise  and  unbounded  yet  not  un 
reasonable  ambition,  and  was  concerned  in  the  attempt  to  found  an 
English  province  in  Louisiana,  which  was  rendered  futile  by  French 
pre-occupation.  In  1692,  the  "  West  Jersey  Society,"  an  organization 
of  forty-eight  persons  combined  for  the  purpose,  bought  of  Dr.  Coxe, 
on  the  2Oth  of  January,  the  whole  of  his  claims  to  lands  and  jurisdic 
tion,  paying  therefor  the  sum  of  nine  thousand  pounds  sterling.  The 
Society  put  their  newly  acquired  lands  in  market,  in  tracts  to  suit,  at 
moderate  rates,  much  to  the  public  benefit;  as  they  sold  \v\fee  simple, 
independent  landlords  and  small  farmers  became  numerous,  and  the 
foundation  of  a  democratic  state  was  laid  in  a  freeholding  population. 

§  Prominent  in  geographical  position,  remarkable  in  its  natural  feat 
ures,  and  especially  fortunate  in  climate.  Cape  May  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  earliest  navigators  of  the  adjacent  seas,  and  was  soon  celebrated  by 
the  explorer  and  naturalist.  In  1641 ,  the  site  of  Sea  Grove  or  its  vicinity 
was  referred  to  as  a  promontory,  and  Campanius  wrote  of  dangerous 
shoals  off  Cape  May,  no  longer  in  existence.  Whatever  improvements 
natural  causes  have  made  in  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware,  the  sands  have 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  CAPE  MAY. 


59 


been  piled  over  against  Henlopen,  and  with  the  shoals  have  gone  the 
dunes,  or  beaches,  which  made  the  point  a  promontory. 

The  historian  of  Cape  May  finds  no  records  of  white  men  before 
1685  ;  then  Caleb  Carman  was  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and 
Jonathan  Pyne  made  Constable  by  the  Assembly  of  New  Jersey,  thus 
indicating  a  pre-existing  population.  Cape,  May  was  cut  off  from  the 
north  by  vast,  dense,  impassable  cedar-swamps,  extending  from  the 
sea-shore  to  the  bay,  and  must,  in  prehistoric  days,  have  been  a  wild 
and  almost  inaccessible  place.  The  earliest  known  inhabitants  of  Cape 
May  were,  of  course,  Indians,  and,  according  to  Captain  Samuel  Argall, 
in  1610  they  were  numerous.  As  a  fishing  station,  the  cape  may  have 
been  occupied  at  any  time  for  the  last  three  hundred  years,  and  the 
pirate  and  slave-hunter  preceded  even  the  fishermen. 

The  history  of  the  Delaware  valley  indicates  clearly  that  the  first 
residents  of  Cape  May  were  refugees, — persons  who,  to  escape  servi 
tude,  oppression,  or  debt,  domiciled  in  the  wilderness.  The  Swedes, 
who  sometimes  visited  the  cape  for  eggs  and  to  kill  geese,  solely  for 
their  feathers,  had  in  their  colony  men  bound  to  penal  slavery  ;  some 
of  them  became  fugitives  among  the  Indians.  When,  in  1642,  the  New 
Haven  colony  on  Varcken's  Kill  was  broken  up,  some  of  its  members 
remained  on  the  Delaware,  and  subsequently  New  England  vessels 
harbored  at  Cape  May,  fishing  and  trading  for  furs, — an  illicit  business 
for  them  in  the  judgment  of  the  Dutch  and  Swedes.  One  such  vessel 
was  robbed  and  her  crew  murdered  by  the  Nanticokes,  near  Swaanen- 
dael,  in  the  spring  of  1644.  She  had  spent  the  winter  at  Cape  May, 
and  went  over  for  beaver-skins.  From  New  Sweden,  from  New  Am- 
stel,  from  the  colony  at  the  Horekill,  as  may  be  recalled,  varied  causes 
at  different  times  scattered  the  people ;  most  of  them  fled  to  Maryland, 
many  crossed  into  New  Jersey,  and  some,  doubtless,  reached  Cape  May. 

In  his  "  Early  History  of  Cape  May  County,"  Maurice  Beesley, 
M.D.,  referring  to  the  probabilities  of  prehistoric  settlement,  writes: 
"  It  would  seem  probable,  inasmuch  as  many  of  the  old  Swedish 
names  as  recorded  in  Campanius,  from  Rudman,  are  still  to  be  found 
in  Cumberland  and  Cape  May,  that  some  of  the  veritable  Swedes  of 
Tinicum  or  Christiana  might  have  strayed  or  have  been  driven  to  our 
shores.  When  the  Dutch  Governor,  Stuyvesant,  ascended  the  Dela 
ware  in  1654  (5),  with  his  seven  ships  and  seven  hundred  men,  and  sub 
jected  the  Swedes  to  his  dominion,  it  would  be  easy  to  imagine  in  their 
mortification  and  chagrin  at  a  defeat  so  bloodless  and  unexpected,  that 
many  of  them  should  fly  from  the  arbitrary  sway  of  their  rulers,  and 
seek  an  asylum  where  they  could  be  free  to  act  for  themselves  without 
restraint  or  coercion  from  the  stubbornness  of  Mynheer,  whose  victory, 
though  easily  obtained,  was  permanent,  as  the  provincial  power  of  New 
Sweden  had  perished  forever." 

Pieter  Heyser  began  whaling  in  Delaware  Bay  in  1630.     When  it 


60  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

became  a  regular  business  at  Town  Bank  is  uncertain ;  there  was  a 
fisherman's  colony  there  from  New  Haven  and  Long  Island  of  consid 
erable  numbers,  and  living  in  houses,  before  1691:  outstaying  the 
whales,  they  took  up  farms,  resorted  to  other  pursuits,  made  themselves 
homes,  and  founded  some  of  the  best  families  in  New  Jersey.  The 
first  account  of  a  visit  to  (^ape  May  was  published  in  a  "  Description 
of  New  Albion,"  written  by  Sir  Edmund  Plowden,  under  the  name  of 
"  Beauchamp  Plantagenet,"  which  appeared  in  London  in  1648.  Plow- 
den  reproduced  a  letter  from  Lieutenant  Robert  Evelyn.  "  Master 
Evelyn"  left  England  with  an  expedition  for  the  Delaware  in  1634,  and 
probably  made  his  exploration  of  the  cape  soon  after.  Others  had 
observed  Cape  May, — Hudson  in  1609;  Argall,  1610;  Cornelius  Hen- 
dricksen,  1616;  Dormer,  1619;  Cornelius  Jacobsen,  May  ( 1614?),  1620; 
Hossett  and  Heyes,  1630,  and  De  Vries  in  1631  ;  besides  a  party  of 
eight,  sent  to  explore  the  bay,  in  1632,  by  Governor  Harvey,  of  Vir 
ginia,  who  were  killed  by  Indians. 

Cape  May  County  was  instituted  the  1 2th  of  November,  1692. 
There  were  five  members  of  Assembly  allowed  it ;  the  next  year  a 
quarterly  court,  for  cases  not  exceeding  twenty  pounds,  was  decreed 
by  the  Assembly  of  New  Jersey.  The  first  court  was  held  at  "  Ports 
mouth"  (Cape  May  Town,  or  Town  Bank),  on  the  2Oth  of  March,  1693. 
The  Grand  Jury  having  been  charged,  found  "  it  necessary  that  a  road 
be  laid  out,  most  convenient  for  the  King  and  county;  and,"  said  they, 
"  so  far  as  one  county  goeth,  we  are  willing  to  clear  a  road  for  travelers 
to  pass,"  as  if  the  guardians  of  the  county  saw,  prophetically,  how 
much  their  district  was  to  owe  its  future  growth  and  prosperity  to  the 
appreciative  health-  or  pleasure-seeking  traveler.  The  tax  levied  in 
1693  was  forty  pounds  sterling,  with  the  considerate  proviso  that  pro 
duce  should  be  taken  at  "  money  price"  in  payment.  One  of  the  first 
acts  of  the  court  was  an  order  that  "  no  one  shall  sell  liquor  without  a 
license,"  the  traffic  and  use  of  rum  having  already,  as  usual,  been  the 
cause  of  much  trouble. 

Of  the  settlers  at  Cape  May  in  1685,  and  of  those  who  came  for  some 
fifteen  years  after,  the  majority  were  attracted  by  the  whale  fishery  in 
the  bay  of  Delaware.  It  is  shown  by  reliable  records,  that  whaling 
was  the  business  of  Christopher  "  Leamyeng"  and  his  son  Thomas,  of 
Caesar  Hoskins,  Samuel  Mat  hews,  Jonathan  Osborne,  Nathaniel  Short, 
Cornelius  Skellinks,  Henry  Stites,  Thomas  Hand  and  his  sons  John  and 
George,  John  and  Caleb  Carman,  John  Shaw,  Thomas  Miller,  William 
Stillwell,  Humphrey  Hewes,  William  Mason,  John  Richardson,  Ebene- 
zer  Swain,  Henry  Young,  and  many  others.  In  looking  over  the 
colonial  records  of  New  Haven,  in  the  first  years  of  its  existence,  the 
reader  meets  most  of  these  family  names,  and  the  Long  Island  whale 
men  were  of  the  same  stock.  The  same  names  are  found  to  day  on 
the  books  of  New  England  ships ;  they  are  people  of  Newport,  of 


LAND    TITLES  AND   NATURAL   PRIVILEGES.  6 1 

Nantucket,  of  New  Bedford,  and  New  London ;  the  world  had  no  such 
dauntless  mariners  as  the  whalemen  of  New  England  and  Cape  May. 

The  purchase  of  the  rights  of  Dr.  Coxe  being  made  in  1692,  the 
West  Jersey  Society,  as  proprietors,  to  prevent  confusion,  nominated 
Andrew  Hamilton,  the  former  deputy  of  Governor  Barclay,  to  be  Gov 
ernor.  The  people  at  large  acquiesced,  and  the  General  Assembly  of 
New  Jersey  passed  an  act  to  cure  all  defects  in  law  and  practice.  The 
law  officers  of  the  crown,  however,  refused  their  sanction  to  such  legis 
lation,  and  the  lords  of  trade  claimed  New  Jersey  as  a  royal  province. 
The  basis  of  government  continued  unsettled,  and,  in  1702,  the  New 
Jersey  proprietors  surrendering  their  claim  of  jurisdiction,  as  has  been 
noted,  continued  to  hold  their  lands  under  the  Royal  Governor,  Edward 
Hyde,  the  weak,  yet  arrogant,  "  Lord  Cornbury." 

Much  of  the  difficulty  in  establishing  government  in  New  Jersey 
arose  from  the  factious  opposition  of  parties  who  wished  to  avoid  the 
payment  of  quitrents,  and  prevent  adverse  decisions  against  their  in 
sufficient  invalid  land  titles.  Not  altogether  wrong  in  equity,  perhaps, 
these  persons  still  evaded  the  courts,  and  by  their  interested  captious- 
ness  defeated  the  plans  of  moderate  men,  did  wrong  to  their  neighbors, 
and  kept  the  province  in  a  chaotic  state,  until  it  lost  its  charter,  and 
passed  under  the  shadow  of  arbitrary  power.  In  Cape  May  County 
there  was  little  dispute  about  titles  to  land;  Coxe  held  most  of  the  soil, 
though  but  five  sales  were  made  by  his  agent  George  Taylor.  The 
West  Jersey  Society  continued  the  sale  of  lands  for  sixty-four  years, 
and  by  1756  had  disposed  of  most  of  their  estate.  Doctor  Johnson, 
of  Perth  Amboy,  was  the  principal  agent  of  the  Society  at  the  time, 
and  Jacob  Spicer  (2d),  in  a  negotiation  in  which  the  wine-bottle  is 
said  to  have  betrayed  Johnson  into  forgetful  ness  of  his  employers' 
interests,  bought  the  remainder  for  the  insufficient  sum  of  ,£300;  at 
his  death,  Johnson,  seemingly  conscious  of  his  unfaithfulness,  left  the 
Society  a  thousand  pounds  conscience-money. 

By  English  feudal  law  the  West  Jersey  Society  became,  through  their 
purchase  from  Coxe,  invested  with  a  monopoly  of  the  natural  privi 
leges  of  Cape  May:  none  could  legally  fish  or  hunt  without  their  con 
sent;  the  deeds  given  by  the  Society  did  not  convey  these  natural 
privileges,  and  much  anxiety  was  felt  about  the  matter  in  time,  al 
though  the  Society  prohibited  none  from  oysters,  fish,  or  game.  An 
organization  was  created  in  1752  to  secure  the  natural  privileges  for 
public  use,  but  delay  occurring,  Spicer  forestalled  their  action  by  his 
jolly  bargain  with  Doctor  Johnson,  and  by  so  doing  provoked  a 
quarrel  with  his  neighbors,  which  was  discussed  in  a  public  meeting 
at  the  Presbyterian  meeting-house,  March  26th,  1761.  The  following 
June,  Spicer,  who  never  sought  to  prevent  his  neighbors  from  using 
"  the  natural  privileges,"  offered  to  sell  his  whole  landed  estate  in  the 
county,  excepting  his  farm  at  Cold  Spring  Neck,  and  the  natural 

5 


62  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

privileges,  except  a  right  for  his  family  in  the  same,  to  the  people  of 
the  county  for  ^7000,  but  his  offer  was  declined.  "  I  was  willing," 
wrote  he,  "  to  please  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time  do  my  posterity 
justice,  and  steer  clear  of  reflection." 

It  must  have  been  an  unpleasant  affair  for  Spicer  to  be  at  variance 
with  the  people  whose  representative  he  had  been  for  seventeen  years. 
An  active  man  of  exemplary  habits  and  comprehensive  mind,  Spicer 
was  twenty-one  years  in  the  assembly,  being  first  elected  in  1744:  he 
was  appointed  by  the  legislature  one  of  the  commission  which  met  in 
1758  at  Crosswicks,  and  then  at  Easton,  to  extinguish  by  special  treaty 
the  Indian  title  to  lands  in  the  State.  By  the  work  of  this  convention 
New  Jersey  gained  the  title  of  "  the  great  doer  of  justice"  from  the 
Delaware  tribe  of  the  Lenni  Lenape. 

Jacob  Spicer  (2d)  dying  in  1765,  his  son  Jacob  conveyed  the  natural 
privileges  to  a  corporation  organized  by  the  legislature;  thus  feudal 
rights  were  recognized;  besides,  an  East  Jersey  court  gave  a  decision 
in  favor  of  the  rights  of  the  proprietors;  an  appeal  was  taken,  however, 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  the  verdict  below 
reversed,  and  the  State  made  the  proprietor  of  the  privileges  of  the 
water  for  the  use  of  the  whole  people.  Thus  the  last  trace  of  feu 
dalism  disappeared,  and  the  visitor  enjoys  the  sports  of  Cape  May, 
thoughtless  of  the  "  natural  privileges"  about  which  so  much  un 
availing  pother  was  made  so  long  ago. 

§  The  earliest  historical  settlement  in  Cape  May  County  was  that  of 
the  whalemen  at  "  Town  Bank,"  a  bluff  the  visitor  at  Sea  Grove  can  see, 
as  part  of  an  unequaled  view,  from  the  observatory  over  the  Pavilion. 
From  the  tower  Town  Bank  is  the  highest  ground  in  sight,  lying  some 
four  miles  away  due  north,  and  on  the  shore  of  the  bay.  Before  1700, 
most  of  the  land  taken  up  was  in  that  vicinity.  The  marine  taste  and 
habits  of  the  people  coming  afterwards  are  attested  by  the  fact  that 
they  settled  altogether  along  the  bay  or  sea,  heedless  of  the  quality  of 
the  soil. 

It  is  only  within  the  last  generation  that  the  inland  portions  of  West 
Jersey  have  attracted  the  attention  its  resources  justify;  the  unexampled 
growth  of  such  a  town  as  Vineland,  within  less  than  a  score  of  years, 
is  an  indication  of  the  results  of  enterprise  in  that  region ;  still,  the 
Jersey  shore  will  have  its  share  of  residents,  especially  in  summer,  for 
reasons  which  are  palpable  to  all  who  observe  them  from  one  of  the 
beautiful  sail-boats,  which  the  tourist  always  finds  near  Sea  Grove, 
4<  well  kept,  ataunto,  spruce,  and  gay,"  awaiting  his  pleasure. 

The  waters  of  Cape  May  are  magnificent  for  varied  sailing.  The 
sounds  are  as  smooth  and  placid  as  a  garden  pool;  there  the  most  timid 
may  venture,  cruising  without  a  fear,  yet  the  sea  breeze  sweeps  across 
them,  damp  with  the  spray  of  the  adjoining  breakers,  and  the  voyage 
may  be  extended  all  the  day. 


OLD-TIME   TRAVEL  AND    COMMERCE.  £3 

For  the  many  "  not  afraid  in  a  boat,"  the  bay  and  roadstead  are  a  safe 
and  free  expanse  of  pleasant  waters;  while  those  who  love  the  breeze, 
the  blilow,  and  the  spray,  in  all  their  ocean  sublimity,  have  before  them 
the  broad  Altantic,  clear  of  reef  or  island  for  three  thousand  miles  to 
"  the  far-off  Azores,"  and  beyond  for  hundreds  of  leagues  to  Lisbon, 
Portugal,  and  old  Spain. 

As  late  as  1706,  the  only  routes  from  Cape  May  to  Burlington  were 
by  the  river,  and  over  bridle-paths  which  led  hither  and  thither  across 
and  through  the  forests,  swamps,  and  marshes.  Thomas  Chalkley,  an 
English  Friend,  rode  from  Cohansey  to  Cape  May,  2nd  month,  1726, 
"  through  a  miry,  boggy  way,  in  which  we  saw  no  house  for  about  forty 
miles,  except  at  the  ferry;"  "that  night,"  says  his  journal,  "we  got  to 
Richard  Townsend's,  at  Cape  May,  where  we  were  kindly  received." 
At  Townsend's,  at  Rebecca  Garretson's,  at  John  Page's,  at  Aaron  Learn 
ing's,  Chalkley  held  satisfactory  meetings;  he  stopped  two  nights  with 
his  wife's  brother,  Jacob  Spicer,  and  journeyed  to  Egg  Harbor.  "  We 
swam  our  horses,"  wrote  he,  "  over  Egg  Harbor  River,  and  went  over 
ourselves  in  canoes."  The  difficulties  of  travel  may  have  been  one 
reason  why  the  people  of  Cape  May  chose  Peter  Fretwell,  a  Quaker 
resident  of  Burlington,  to  represent  them  in  the  assembly  in  1702, 
and  for  twelve  years  after ;  it  seems  a  strange  proceeding  any  way,  but 
all  New  Jersey  was  full  of  odd  political  devices  in  the  early  days. 

As  early  as  1698,  Richard  Harvo,  of  Cape  May,  owned  a  sloop;  and 
in  1705,  Captain  Jacob  Spicer  sailed  the  sloop  Adventure  of  sixteen 
tons,  John  and  Richard  Townsend,  owners,  as  a  packet  between  Cape 
May,  Philadelphia,  and  Burlington,  under  a  license  from  Lord  Corn- 
bury.  In  1706,  another  sloop,  named  the  Necessity,  was  built  and 
owned  at  Cape  May  by  Dennis  Lynch,  from  which  time  the  marine 
increased  until  in  fifty  years  there  were  numerous  small  vessels  trading 
from  Cape  May  County  to  Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island,  to  Rhode  Island 
and  Connecticut,  and  to  Philadelphia.  The  vessels  going  east  generally 
carried  lumber,  while  oysters  and  produce  of  various  kinds  found  a 
market  up  the  river.  Jacob  Spicer  (2d)  owned  a  vessel  he  sent  to  the 
WTest  Indies,  and  he  shipped  much  corn  taken  by  him  in  barter  for  gen 
eral  merchandise.  In  1750,  the  Delaware  pilot-boats  were  pinked  stern 
boats,  sharp  at  both  ends;  a  usual  size  was  twenty-seven  feet  keel  and 
eleven  feet  beam;  the  "pinkie"  was  the  lineal  progeny  of  the  "whale 
boat,"  and,  when  in  familiar  hands,  one  of  the  stanchest  craft  that  ever 
rode  a  wave. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  slow  but  yet  actual  improvement  in  the 
means  of  transportation  around  and  from  Cape  May;  but  it  was  not 
until  1852  that  change  amounting  to  a  revolution  took  place  in  the 
means  of  travel.  In  that  year  Captain  Wilmon  Whilldin  put  the  first 
steamboat  on  the  route  between  Cape  May  and  Philadelphia.  Though 
regarded  almost  as  a  miracle,  the  boat  was  a  modest  craft  compared  to 


64 


SCHEYICHDI  AND    THE  STRAND. 


those  which  glide  along  the  Delaware  now;  "the  longest  day  in  June" 
was  almost  too  brief  for  her  to  make  the  trip  from  the  Cape  to  the  city, 
running  "  between  sun  and  sun."  But  other  boats  were  soon  put  on 
the  route,  which  reduced  the  time  of  travel  while  enlarging  the  accom 
modation.  There  are  few  finer  trips  than  that  down  the  lovely  Dela 
ware;  the  land  disappears  at  last  as  the  mid-waters  of  the  bay  are 
crossed,  and  Sea  Grove  comes  in  view,  often  from  a  deck  that  reels 
merrily  beneath  the  feet  of  the  voyager.  For  those  to  whom  even  the 
bracing  air  of  the  bay  has  no  charms,  unless  inhaled  from  the  shore, 
there  has  been  provided  another  line  of  travel. 

The  West  Jersey  Railroad  was  completed  to  Cape  May  in  1866,  and 
since  then  each  year  has  added  to  the  excellence  of  the  road  itself,  while 
the  time  consumed  in  the  journey  has  been  reduced  to  the  minimum 
consistent  with  safety.  Cars  of  the  most  complete  construction  and 
luxurious  finish  are  run,  including  \VoodrufTs  Silver  Palace  Drawing- 
room  Coaches,  and  a  degree  of  care  and  courtesy  is  evinced  by  all  en 
gaged  in  train-service,  which  render  the  journey  of  only  two  hours  and 
a  half  or  less  from  Philadelphia  to  the  "  City  by  the  Sea"  as  pleasant  as 
human  skill  can  make  it 

Unfavorable  as  the  country  above  Cape  May  was  for  travel,  there 
was  one  circumstance  of  the  early  days  which  tended  to  make  transit 
by  water  an  occasion  for  apprehension,  and  rendered  the  worst  "  miry, 
boggy  way"  preferable  to  a  route  whereon  the  voyager  had  reason  to 
look  under  every  strange  sail  for  the  sinister  visage  of  the  sea-robber 
and  pirate!  The  sixteenth  century  was  an  age  of  piracy,  and  as  late 
as  1721  the  Delaware  was  the  scene  of  captures  by  the  highwaymen 
of  the  ocean.  Owing  to  its  lack  of  naval  and  military  strength,  and  to 
the  reluctance  of  the  Quakers  to  hang  rascals,  Philadelphia  was  a 
favorite  place  with  Blackbeard  and  others  of  his  kind,  and  the  Dela 
ware  was  chosen  as  a  resort  for  repairs  by  many  an  outlaw  vessel.  In 
1731,  five  men  were  hung  as  pirates,  which  was  about  the  end  of  a 
bad  bloody  business  in  this  part  of  the  world.  The  pirates  are  said 
to  have  infested  Sea  Grove,  and  buried  much  money  there,  after  which 
much  digging  and  conjuring  has  been  done,  even  in  recent  years. 

Although  most  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  Cape  May  were  sea 
faring  men,  the  Swedes  among  them  were  an  agricultural  people,  and 
in  time  circumstances  compelled  the  general  cultivation  of  the  soil. 
The  colonies,  near  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  were  governed 
by  the  English  lords  of  trade;  every  effort  was  made  to  prohibit 
manufactures  and  commerce  in  America.  Still,  whatever  the  wrongs 
of  government,  the  natural  resources  of  Cape  May  saved  the  settle 
ment  there  from  want.  Parliament  could  not  legislate  the  fish  out  of 
the  Delaware,  no  lord  of  trade  ever  ate  such  oysters  as  fairly  obstructed 
the  sounds,  no  English  park  had  half  the  game  which  swarmed  in  the 
woods  and  swamps,,  there  was  an  abundance  of  wonderfully  quick, 


AN  OLD-FASHIONED  FAMILY.  65 

fertile  soil,  easy  of  cultivation,  and  the  sun  never  shone,  even  on  an 
English  king,  as  it  beamed  on  the  gardens  and  cornfields  which,  year 
by  year,  grew  ever  wider  and  still  wider. 

The  primitive  manufactures  of  Cape  May,  aside  from  lumber,  were 
of  a  domestic  nature,  and  were  much  encouraged  by  Jacob  Spicer 
(ad) ;  there  was  hardly  anything  that  he  would  not  take  in  exchange 
for  goods.  He  advertised  to  receive,  at  the  same  time,  a  variety  of 
produce,  from  a  drove  of  cattle  or  sheep,  "a  thousand  pounds  of 
woolen  stockings"  for  the  army,  or  "  a  large  quantity  of  mittens,"  to 
"  a  clam-shell  formed  in  wampum,  a  yarn-thrum,  a  goose-quill,  a  horse 
hair,  a  hog's-bristle,  or  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  being,"  said  he, 
"  greatly  desirous  to  encourage  industry,  as  it  is  one  of  the  most  prin 
cipal  expedients,  under  the  favor  of  Heaven,  that  can  revive  our  droop 
ing  circumstances  at  this  time  of  uncommon,  but  great  and  general 
burden."  This  was  in  1756,  during  the  French  and  Indian  War, — the 
conflict  wherein  the  colonists  learned  to  "  organize  victory,"  and  gained 
the  confidence  which  made  possible  the  triumph  of  the  Revolution. 

Cape  May  was  fortunate  in  her  early  sons.  Jacob  Spicer  (2d)  was  a 
statesman,  a  merchant,  an  economist;  a  man  without  conceit,  he 
required  in  his  own  family  the  same  reasonable  diligence  and  thrift  he 
recommended  to  others.  There  were  twelve  persons  in  his  household, 
and  such  was  his  minutely  systematic  way  of  business  that  from  his 
books  and  writings  may  be  learned,  even  now,  the  details  of  their  life. 
In  Jacob  Spicer's  own  house,  under  the  superintendence  of  a  tailor, 
tailoress,  and  shoemaker,  the  apparel  of  his  family  was  made.  The 
sons  of  this  legislator  and  jurist  were  taught  to  cobble  shoes,  the 
girls  to  make  clothing  and  knit.  The  Spicer  boys,  in  1757,  were  pro 
vided  with  "  24  Ibs.  gray  skin,  @  25d.  per  Ib."  to  make  them  breeches 
and  vests.  This  was  deer-skin,  and  some  of  it  was  worn  with  the  hair 
on.  For  the  girls  there  was  a  provision  of  "  striped  linnen"  and  "  lin- 
sey ;"  there  was  "  a  cloth  vest"  for  one  of  the  boys,  and  a  "  tammy 
quilt  for  Judith."  Spicer  estimated  the  girls  to  knit  yearly,  besides  the 
other  work  they  had  to  do,  two  hundred  and  twenty  pairs  of  mittens, 
taking  forty-four  pounds  of  wool,  to  be  spun  by  a  hired  woman  in  his 
house,  in  forty-four  days.  The  mittens  were  worth  "  i6d."  (thirty-two 
cents)  a  pair  at  Cape  May  when  finished,  but  sold  at  double  the  money 
at  "  York"  and  Albany.  In  one  way  and  another,  the  premises  of  the 
Hon.  Jacob  Spicer  must  have  been  a  lively  place.  Teetotalism  had 
not  been  heard  of  at  Cape  May  then,  and  under  the  head  of  "  wets," 
the  master  of  the  house  charges  his  family  with  using  "  52  gal.  rum, 
10  do.  wine,  and  2  bbls.  cyder."  As  a  merchant  and  magistrate,  Spicer 
probably  entertained  many,  and,  in  the  unquestioned  manner  of  his 
time,  took  care  to  "  welcome  the  coming,  speed  the  parting,  guest." 

The  patient  author,  as  he  delves  among  these  prosaic  records  of  the 
past  in  the  magnificent  Centennial  year  of  grace,  1876,  remembers  the 


66  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

scandals  of  his  day,  and  pauses  to  heave  a  sigh,  not  for  the  leather 
breeches,  linsey-woolsey,  woolen  mittens,  rum  and  cider,  of  the 
Spicers,  but  for  more  of  the  conscientious  good  sense  which  made 
virtue,  diligence,  and  economy  the  height  of  fashion,  public  spirit 
the  pride  of  the  citizen,  and  inflexible  integrity  the  historical  glory  of 
the  merchant  and  magistrate ! 

But  with  all  the  usefulness  and  sterling  worth  of  Jacob  Spicer  (2d) 
notwithstanding  he  was  for  twenty-one  years— nearly  half  his  days — 
an  officer  and  representative  of  his  neighbors,  still  Aaron  Learning  (2d), 
was  the  man  the  people  of  Cape  May  especially  delighted  to  honor. 
He  served  them  as  their  representative  for  thirty  years:  well  educated 
for  the  times,  of  great  natural  good  sense,  very  industrious,  and,  withal, 
somewhat  aristocratic,  no  man  was  ever  more  highly  honored  by  the 
county,  and  none,  perhaps,  better  deserved  the  regard  and  confidence 
of  his  constituents.  Neither  Learning  nor  Spicer  were  place-hunters, 
dependent  upon  local  prejudice  for  recognition.  Serving  as  colleagues 
in  the  assembly  for  a  score  of  years  or  more,  their  ability  and  fidelity 
were  made  manifest,  and  together  they  were  selected  by  the  legisla 
ture  for  the  responsible  work  of  compiling  the  laws  of  the  State.  This 
they  completed  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  public,  and  "  Learning  and 
Spicer's  Collection"  is,  to-day,  a  respected  authority  in  New  Jersey. 
Learning  was  a  great  speculator  in  land,  and  yet  found  time  to  write 
copious  "  Memoirs,"  which  remain  a  faithful  transcript  of  the  times  in 
which  he  lived.  Born  in  1716,  the  son  of  Aaron  Leamyeng,  from 
Connecticut,  a  man  who  had  worked  his  way  against  adverse  circum 
stances  to  superior  knowledge,  large  possessions,  a  Quaker  faith,  and 
public  respect,  Aaron  Learning  (2d)  maintained  the  honor  of  his  family, 
filled  with  credit  and  dignity  the  important  position  assigned  him,  and 
died,  much  regretted,  in  1783. 

The  Learnings,  Goldens,  Spicers,  Stites,  Stillwells,  Willetts,  Ludlams, 
Causons,  Hands,  Townsends,  Youngs,  Swains,  Hughes,  Garretsons, 
Hubbards,  Mackeys,  Godfreys,  Reeves,  and  Weldons,  Whilldens,  or 
Whilldins,  with  others,  were  among  the  early  and  principal  settlers  of 
Cape  May. 

While  history  records  the  virtues  of  the  early  sons  of  the  Cape,  their 
prominence  in  seamanship,  in  commerce,  in  the  halls  of  legislation, 
what  shall  be  said  of  the  women  of  the  place  and  time  ?  Theirs  may 
have  been  a  less  conspicuous  position,  but  many  of  them  were  of  that 
class  whose  "  children  rise  up  and  call  them  blessed  ;"  diverse,  yet  equal, 
in  domestic  life  they  were  accomplished  in  all  good  works,  nor  are  we 
left  without  evidence  of  a  bright  intelligence,  in  many  cases,  to  more 
endear  them.  Very  early,  the  Quakers  did  much  in  West  Jersey  to 
modify  and  elevate  the  estimate  of  woman.  In  the  library  of  Sarah 
Hall,  of  Salem  and  Alloway's  Creek,  Aaron  Learning  the  elder,  as  a 
boy,  "very  poor,  helpless,  and  friendless,"  read  law;  the  aged  Quaker 


THE  MITTEN  ARTICLE.  67 

lady  being  herself  "an  eminent  lawyer  for  those  times."  The  student 
may  fumble  in  vain  among  the  dry  leaves  of  court  records,  account 
books,  and  scattered  memoranda,  for  the  chronicle  of  great  deeds  by 
the  mothers  of  Cape  May  ;  but  while  "  like  sire  like  son"  has  become 
a  proverb,  do  we  not  know  that  the  mother  is  equally  the  parent  of  the 
child,  and  that  the  men  who  have  done  honor  to  their  native  county 
learned,  like  Washington,  their  noblest  lessons  beside  a  mother's  knee? 

In  an  estimate  of  the  resources,  income,  and  expenditure  of  Cape 
May  County,  for  1758,  -made  by  Jacob  Spicer  (2nd),  there  is  credit 
given  the  county  for  production  of  the  "  mitten  article,"  to  the  value  of 
five  hundred  pounds  sterling.  The  manner  in  which  the  mitten  trade, 
which,  as  thus  appears,  was  quite  a  reward  to  the  female  industry  of  the 
County,  was  encouraged,  is  related  in  the  following  letter  from  Dr. 
Franklin  to  Benjamin  Vaughan,  dated  Passy,  July  26th,  1748,  "on  the 
benefits  and  evils  of  luxury:" 

"  The  skipper  of  the  shallop,  employed  between  Cape  May  and  Phila 
delphia,  had  done  us  some  service,  for  which  he  refused  to  be  paid.  My 
wife  understanding  he  had  a  daughter,  sent  her  a  present  of  a  new 
fashioned  cap.  Three  years  afterward,  this  skipper  being  at  my  house 
with  an  old  farmer  of  Cape  May,  his  passenger,  he  mentioned  the  cap 
and  how  much  his  daughter  had  been  pleased  with  it;  '  but/  said  he,  '  it 
proved  a  dear  cap  to  our  congregation.'  How  so  ?  '  When  my  daugh 
ter  appeared  with  it  at  meeting,  it  was  so  much  admired  that  all  the 
girls  resolved  to  get  such  caps  from  Philadelphia,  and  my  wife  and  I 
computed  that  the  whole  would  not  have  cost  less  than  one  hundred 
pounds.'  '  True,'  said  the  farmer,  '  but  you  do  not  tell  all  the  story.  I 
think  the  cap  was  nevertheless  an  advantage  to  us,  for  it  was  the  first 
thing  that  put  our  girls  upon  knitting  worsted  mittens  for  sale  at  Phila 
delphia,  that  they  might  have  wherewithal  to  buy  caps  and  ribbons 
there,  and  you  know  that  that  industry  has  continued,  and  is  likely  to 
continue  and  increase  to  a  much  greater  value,  and  answer  better  pur 
poses.'  Upon  the  whole  I  was  more  reconciled  to  this  little  piece  of 
luxury,  since  not  only  the  girls  were  made  happier  by  having  fine  caps, 
but  Philadelphians  by  the  supply  of  warm  mittens." 

The  old  times  were  trying  times;  hardly  were  the  pioneers  of  Cape 
May  settled  in  comparative  comfort,  before  the  entire  country  was 
plunged  in  the  horrors  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars.  Surrounded  by 
the  faithful  Lenni  Lenape,  Cape  May  had  no  experience  of  the  ruthless 
barbarities  which  were  suffered  elsewhere,  but  for  many  a  year  no  one 
could  tell  when  some  French  cruiser  or  Spanish  privateer  would  break 
into  the  Delaware,  and  retaliate  upon  its  defenseless  shores  the  outrages 
Argall  had  imposed  upon  the  French  Acadians  in  1613.  New  Jersey 
always  cheerfully  and  with  alacrity  met  the  requisitions  upon  her  for 
men  and  means ;  while  the  soldiers  of  Cape  May  faced  a  cruel  foe, 
Jacob  Spicer  rallied  the  people  to  increased  industry ;  "  to  meet  the  great 


68  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

demands  of  the  time,"  he  demanded  "a  thousand  pounds  of  stockings," 
44  for  our  men  in  the  field  ;"  faster  than  ever  rolled  the  spinning-wheel, 
faster  still  flew  the  needles ;  even  before  the  Revolution  Cape  May 
evinced  a  patriotic  courage. 

On  the  1st  of  November,  1775,  Jacob  Spicer  called  a  public  meeting, 
"to  do  something  for  the  country,"  but  had  to  record  his  chagrin  that 
only  James  Whillden,  Jeremiah  Hand,  Thomas  Learning,  and  John 
Leonard  attended.  It  was  the  era  of  doubt;  the  magic  word,  INDE 
PENDENCE,  had  not  yet  been  uttered  at  Philadelphia, — the  more  honor  to 
the  ready  few.  Cape  May  sent  Jesse  Hand  to  Burlington  as  member 
of  the  Provincial  Congress  in  1775  and  1776.  On  the  2ist  of  June,  in 
the  latter  year,  that  body  decided  upon  the  formation  of  a  new  State 
Government.  Hand  was  also  a  member  of  Council  in  1779,  and  for 
three  years  afterward.  Jesse  Hand,  Jacob  Eldridge,  and  Matthew 
Whillden  were  the  delegates  sent  from  Cape  May  to  attend  the  Con 
vention  at  Trenton,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  December,  1787,  to  ratify 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  this  was  done  by  a  unanimous 
vote  on  the  iQth  of  the  month,  when  the  members  of  the  Convention 
marched  in  solemn  procession  to  the  Court-House,  where  the  act  of 
ratification  was  publicly  read.  New  Jersey  was  the  third  State  to  ratify 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  By  the  Legislature  of  New 
Jersey  Jesse  Hand  was  made  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety,  a  most  responsible  and  arduous  position,  but  no  one  of  those 
who  served  the  cause  of  Independence,  in  a  civil  capacity,  deserved 
better  of  his  country. 

Cape  May  has  been  noted  for  generations,  as  from  natural  causes,  one 
of  the  best  of  beaches;  the  same  peculiarities  constitute  it  one  of  the 
most  delightful  driving  places  imaginable.  Unequaled  by  nature,  the 
beach  road  has  been  extended  along  shore,  over  Poverty  Beach,  away 
past  the  magnificent  Cape  May  Lighthouse,  past  the  beautiful  cottages 
and  comfortable  hotels  of  Sea  Grove,  beyond  the  United  States  Signal 
Station,  around  the  point,  and  for  a  perfect  mile  up  the  Delaware  to 
the  steamboat  landing;  from  thence  the  straight  inland  road  runs  for 
three  miles,  over  the  turnpike,  into  Cape  May  City.  Wherever  the 
start  be  made,  the  seven  miles  round  brings  the  rider  to  his  door  again. 
Hoof  or  wheel,  it  is  the  same  good  road,  and  all  the  way  the  ocean  or 
,the  bay  is  constantly  in  view,  and  the  surf  can  scarcely  stir  unheard. 

But  what  have  all  these  well-known  facts  to  do  with  Jesse  Hand  and 
his  offenses,  he  of  ante-revolutionary  fame?  Well,  the  simple  fact  is, 
that  gentleman  and  patriot  utterly  confounded,  astonished,  and  dis 
gusted  his  neighbors  by  his  audacity  in  presuming  to  ride  over  the  very 
route  we  have  described,  and  others  thereabout :  the  first  man  in  the 
history  of  the  world  to  traverse  the  roads  and  beaches  of  Cape  May 
in  the  pretentious  dignity  and  effeminate  luxury  of  a  top  carriage.  It 
was  none  of  your  modern  affairs  from  Kimball,  Brewster,  or  Rogers, 


ll1  '  -Id  III     I  ,i 


A    TALE   OF  LOVE  AND   DEVOTION.  fy 

but  a  solid,  old-fashioned  "chair,"  heavy  enough,  hard-riding  enough; 
but  what  of  that?  Had  not  Aaron  Learning  traveled  on  horseback  to 
the  Legislature  ?  Had  not  everybody  else  ridden  in  horse  carts  year 
after  year?  And  now  Jesse  Hand  presumed  upon  a  new  and  amazing 
fashion  before  their  wondering  eyes.  History  records  no  popular 
tumult,  except  of  tongues,  about  the  matter,  but  Jesse  Hand  never  fully 
regained  the  regard  of  some  people,  and  jealousy  and  distrust,  like  a 
curse,  followed  his  new-fangled  equipage;  and  though  he  and  his  gen 
eration  are  long  since  dead,  yet  the  writer  hath  knowledge  of  traditions 
that,  still  drawn  by  attenuated  and  discouraged  equines,  a  very  Wander 
ing  Jew  of  vehicles,  Jesse  Hand's  carriage  still  peregrinates,  at  a  toilsome 
pace,  the  interminable,  sandy,  woodland  roads  of  Jersey. 

As  to  the  part  which  Cape  May  took  in  the  Revolution,  Dr.  Maurice 
Beesley,  in  his  "  Early  History  of  Cape  May,"  writes  as  follows  :  4k  In 
the  contest  of  our  forefathers  for  independence,  nothing  praiseworthy 
can  be  said  of  the  other  counties  of  the  State  that  would  not  apply  to 
Cape  May.  She  was  ewer  ready  to  meet  the  demands  made  upon  her 
by  the  Legislature  and  the  necessities  of  the  times,  whether  that  de 
mand  was  for  money  or  men.  Being  exposed,  in  having  a  lengthened 
water  frontier,  to  the  attacks  and  incursions  of  the  enemy,  it  was  neces 
sary  to  keep  in  readiness  a  flotilla  of  boats  and  privateers,  which  were 
owned,  armed,  and  manned  by  the  people,  and  were  successful  in  de 
fending  the  coast  against  the  British  as  well  as  refugees.  Many  prizes 
and  prisoners  were  taken  which  stand  announced  in  the  papers  of  the 
day  as  creditable  to  the  parties  concerned.  Acts  of  valor  and  daring 
might  be  related  of  this  band  of  boatmen,  which  would  not  discredit 
the  name  of  a  Sorners,  or  brush  a  laurel  from  the  brow  of  their  com 
patriots  in  arms.  The  women  were  formed  into  committees  for  the 
purpose  of  preparing  clothing  for  the  army,  and  acts  of  chivalry  and 
fortitude  were  performed  by  them  which  were  equally  worthy  of  their 
fame  and  the  cause  they  served.  To  record  a  single  deserving  act 
would  do  injustice  to  a  part,  and  to  give  a  place  to  all  who  signalized 
themselves  would  swell  this  sketch  beyond  its  prescribed  limits."  Yet, 
on  another  page,  the  doctor  cannot  forbear  telling  the  story  of  the  de 
votion  of  Sarah,  the  sister  of  Captain  Nicholas  Stillwell,  the  young 
Mrs.  Griffing.  Captain  Moses  Griffing  being  a  prisoner  on  the  infa 
mous  and  murderous  "  New  Jersey  Prison  Ship,"  where  the  dying,  the 
dead,  the  famished  and  famishing  were  promiscuously  huddled  tdgether, 
Mrs.  Griffing,  "actuated  by  a  heroism  which  woman's  love  alone  can 
inspire,"  bravely  made  her  way  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through 
a  most  dangerous  country,  swarming  writh  enemies,  romantically  re 
solved  to  see  and  rescue  him,  or  die  in  the  attempt.  The  devoted  wife 
called  at  the  camp  of  Washington  by  the  way,  who  gave  her  in  charge 
an  English  captain  to  exchange;  she  reached  New  York  in  safety,  and 
finally  persuaded  Sir  Henry  Clinton  to  release  her  husband ;  the  ex- 


jO  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

change  was  made,  after  a  long  and  painful  suspense,  and  the  patriotic 
wife  enjoyed  the  happiness  she  deserved. 

And  thus  the  men  and  women  of  "  the  time  that  tried  men's  souls" 
fought  the  battle  of  English  liberty  on  the  soil  of  America  ;  arvi  to-day 
the  citizen  of  Britain  may  find  in  the  extent  and  stability  of  his  free 
dom  abundant  reason  to  rejoice  in  the  result  of  a  contest  which,  begin 
ning  in  the  colonies  as  successful  revolution,  culminated  in  the  mother 
country  in  the  achievements  of  liberal  and  progressive  reform. 

Notwithstanding  the  perturbations  of  war,  or  the  changing  policies  of 
peace,  Cape  May  prospered,  and  gradually  enlarged  its  population.  It 
was,  however,  no  "  Lotus  Land,"  where  the  sdontaneous  produce  of 
the  soil  supported  the  inhabitants  in  corrupting  sloth,  to  breathe  an 
enervating  air.  Every  ocean  breeze  of  Cape  May  is  an  ethereal  tonic, 
pure  as  the  quintessence  of  the  elixir  of  life.  There  are  no  long-pre 
vailing,  exhaustive  extremes  of  torrid  heat,  and  winter,  comparatively 
brief,  is  only  rigorous  enough  to  destroy  the  germs  of  malaria,  to 
superpurify  the  atmosphere  with  its  frosts,  and  brace  anew  the  vital 
powers  of  man  and  beast.  The  necessary  pursuits  of  the  pioneers 
were  all  manly,  demanding  hardihood,  muscle,  and  courage;  develop 
ing  strength,  heroism,  and  force  of  character. 

There  were  about  fifteen  hundred  people  in  Cape  May  County  in 
1758,  with  an  estimated  income  of  about  twenty-two  thousand  dollars. 
When  the  war  of  1812  began,  the  Cape  had  a  population  of  three 
thousand  five  hundred  persons,  its  commercial  importance  having  in 
creased  in  a  greater  degree.  The  final  war  with  England  was  a  naval 
contest ;  the  interest  of  Cape  May  in  such  a  struggle  may  be  inferred. 
From  first  to  last,  in  the  various  wars  for  freedom  and  independence, 
the  waters,  in  view  from  the  towers  of  Sea  Grove  have  been  the  scene 
of  many  naval  conflicts.  An  interesting  volume  might  be  written  of 
events  when  a  British  fleet  lay  constantly  over  against  Henlopen  ;  when 
they  captured  and  burned  the  small  craft  of  the  bay,  and  in  their 
launches  cruised  about,  threatening  to  land  and  ravage  the  Cape. 

What  a  romantic  chapter  the  account  of  the  watchful  coast  guard 
would  make!  And  what  an  exciting  scene  it  must  have  been,  when 
the  fast  Yankee  frigate,  Alliance,  then  under  Commodore  Barry,  fled 
out  of  the  Delaware,  to  avoid  a  hopeless  contest,  and  made  her  way  to 
Rhode  Island  at  the  rate  of  fourteen  knots  an  hour,  running  down  the 
Speedwell  and  seizing  two  sloops  of  war,  to  fly  back  to  the  shores 
where  her  timbers  grew,  and  land  her  wounded  commander  in  the  port 
of  Boston  !  Then  there  was  the  first  naval  conflict  of  the  Revolution, 
fought  by  the  Hyder  Ally,  under  the  gallant  Captain  Barney,  a  privateer 
with  four  nine-pounder  guns  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  men, 
which  stole  down  from  Philadelphia  disguised  as  a  merchantman,  to 
attack  the  General  Monk  with  eighteen  nine-pounder  guns  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  on  board.  When  the  captain  cried  "Board!" 


WHY  AMERICA    WON  IN  THE  FIGHT.  7l 

his  men  were  to  fire;  when  he  cried  "Fire!"  they  were  to  board. 
Alongside  the  Monk,  Barry  shouted  his  first  command.  The  brave 
English  crowd  to  repel  boarders ;  the  Hyder  Ally  rocks  from  stem  to 
stern  ;  everything  that  can  carry  a  bullet  explodes  in  the  very  faces  of 
the  foe.  "  Fire!" — in  a  flash  the  Yankee  cutlasses  are  on  the  English 
deck!  Doubly  duped,  twice  tricked,  the  Monk  surrendered:  two- 
thirds  of  her  crew  were  dead  and  wounded;  but  four  were  killed  and 
fifteen  hurt  on  board  the  privateer. 

Another  fight,  turning  the  other  way  this  time.  A  large  American 
privateer,  beset  by  a  fleet  of  British  launches,  just  off  Cape  May  shore.' 
A  long  fight,  and  a  close  one,  until  the  vessel  manceuvering  too  near  the 
strand,  strikes,  and  by  and  by  goes  to  pieces  in  the  breakers. 

And  so  a  book  might  be  written  of  the  waters  around  Cape  May,  as 
a  scene  of  war  and  bloodshed.  But  to  what  good  end  ?  It  could  not 
prove  that  English  hearts  were  cowardly,  or  that  Americans  were 
more  than  the  world  admits  them  to  be.  America  won,  in  the  last 
fight  with  England,  because  of  finer  modeled,  better  rigged,  and  more 
"  handy"  vessels  ;  and  because  on  those  vessels,  for  the  first  time,  long- 
range  guns  and  cannon  were  supplied  with  "  sights,"  and  trained  with 
the  deadly  accuracy  of  the  rifle  on  the  mark.  It  was  the  thunderbolt 
against  the  hail-storm  ;  it  was  precision  against  mass ;  it  was  the  rifle 
against  the  shot-gun;  it  was  invention  against  routine;  and  science 
won,  as  it  will  forever  in  any  fight.  To-day,  England  sights  her  guns 
with  telescopes ;  she  clothes  her  warrior-ships  in  sevenfold  steel  ;  she 
buoys  them  with  cork ;  she  lights  them  with  electricity ;  she  drives 
them  by  steam,  like  avalanches ;  and  by  steam  handles  guns  of  eighty 
tons  like  toys,  in  the  recesses  of  invulnerable  turrets!  Well,  cannot 
the  United  States  do  as  much  ?  They  have  done,  and  are  doing, 
better. 

At  the  extreme  point  of  Cape  May,  in  the  centre  of  Sea  Grove 
beach,  a  tall  spar  bears  aloft  the  flag  of  the  American  Union.  Near 
by,  a  neat  but  peculiar  building  attracts  the  scrutiny  of  the  observer. 
This  is  the  United  States  Signal  Station,  and  there  keen-eyed  vigilance 
watches  and  notes  the  skies,  the  clouds,  the  winds,  the  seas,  and  all 
the  grand  phenomena  and  minute  signs  of  nature.  On  lofty  moun 
tains,  amid  deserts,  by  great  lakes,  everywhere  throughout  the  terri 
tory  of  the  United  States,  are  similar  posts  of  observation,  and  every 
where  the  same  untiring  watchfulness.  The  telegraphic  wire  links  all 
these  points  together,  and  connects  all  with  the  central  observatory  at 
Washington. 

It  may  be  an  overcast  afternoon  in  September;  nothing  especially 
betokens  danger,  but  vessel  after  vessel  comes  down  the  bay,  catches 
sight  of  the  station,  and  quietly  passes  behind  the  gigantic  breakwater 
above  Henlopen.  An  English  ship  sweeps  down  the  coast,  the  cross 
of  Britain  bravely  borne  above  her  canvas ;  she  too  sights  the  station, 


SCHEYICHBI  AND   THE  STRAND. 


and  turns  her  helm,  and  bears  sail,  to  gain,  ere  nightfall,  sea-room  and 
an  offing.  Night  comes  early,  and  with  night  the  storm.  The  two 
great  lights  answer  each  other's  glances  across  the  bay,  over  seas 
which  howl  and  show  flashes  of  foam,  like  wolves  snarling  white- 
•fanged  in  the  tempestuous  darkness  !  But  the  ships  are  safe,  folded 
like  sheep  in  a  quiet  place ;  for  all  day  long  the  danger  signal  has 
been  displayed,  and  they  have  learned  to  heed  it;  and  that  is  an 
American  idea,  deserving  fuller  development,  and  worth  more  than 
the  war-ships  of  the  world. 

There  are  three  edifices  most  prominent  at  Sea  Grove,  the  Light- 
House,  the  Signal  Station,  and  the  Pavilion  :  they  typify  the  Nation  and 
the  Age;  they  actualize  the  beneficence  of  Popular  Government,  the 
philanthropy  of  Science,  and  the  power  of  Moral  Sentiment,  in  the 
sublimity  of  Religious  Freedom  :  these,  rather  than  batteries,  armies, 
and  navies,  are  the  conquering  forces  of  the  future. 

To  show  the  critical  and  useful  nature  of  the  work  done  by  the 
United  States  Signal  Service,  and  as  a  matter  of  information,  the  fol 
lowing  table  is  introduced;  of  the  value  of  such  statistics  no  well-in 
formed  person  need  to  be  advised. 

The  records  of  the  United  States  Signal  Service  show  the  following 
figures  for  the  three  most  prominent  resorts  on  the  New  Jersey  coast : 


MEAN  DAILY  HUMIDITY. 

Cape  Atlantic 

May.  City. 

July 88.3  85.7 

August 78.8  79.0 

September 78.9  83.0 

3  months 82.0  82.6 


Long 
Branch. 

78.4 

July..., 

Capt 
May. 

60  2 

Atlantic 
City. 

7O  1 

77  4 

68  8 

1     •> 

60  ^ 

80.0 

78.6 

September  
1  months.... 

68.6 
68.0 

67  8 
60.2 

Branch. 

7'-4 

69.9 

67.5 

69.6 


Thus  it  is  seen  that  Cape  May  is  the  coolest  place  along  the  coast, 
and  as  dry  as  Atlantic  City. 

The  village  of  Cape  May  escaped  the  ravages  of  war.  Once,  in  1812, 
the  Poictiers,  a  British  line-of-battle  ship,  appeared  off  the  place,  and 
threatened  it  with  bombardment  unless  it  was  supplied  with  water;  the 
cheap  ransom  was  paid  at  once,  and  the  enemy  sailed  away.  While 
the  English  fleet  lay  in  Delaware  Bay,  in  1812,  its  officers  managed  to 
keep,  so  far  as  personalities  went,  on  very  good  terms  with  the  people 
of  Cape  May,  and  made  "  The  Beach"  what  it  is  now,  a  place  of  health 
ful,  free,  and  gay  resort.  The  village  of  Cape  May,  though  loyal,  was 
hospitable,  and  the  chronicles  assure  us  that  its  amusements  were 
shared  by  friends  and  foes  together  in  the  greatest  amity,  and  that, 
when  the  fleet  of  Albion  sailed  away  at  last,  more  than  one  of  the 
heroes  and  heroines  of  the  time  gave  evidence  of  their  faith,  by  obedi 
ence  to  the  command,  "  Love  your  enemies." 

In  1812,  the  present  site  of  Cape  May  City  was  already  the  location 


OLD-FASHIONED  FROLICS  AT  CAPE  MAY.  73 

of  a  considerable  hamlet ;  even  then  popular  as  a  place  of  resort  in 
summer.  "  Cape  Island"  was  purchased  of  Dr.  Coxe,  through  his 
agents,  by  William  Jacoks  and  Humphrey  Hughes,  in  1689 — a  tract  of 
five  hundred  and  forty-six  acres,  or  more.  Jacoks  sold  to  Thomas 
Hand,  and  Randall  Hewit  bought  an  interest  in  the  Island.  Hand, 
Hewit,  and  Hughes  held  the  property  until  1700,  and  it  was  long  cul* 
tivated  and  fertile  land.  But  in  the  mean  time  the  settlement  increased, 
and  the  corn-fields  were  narrowed.  In  1829,  Watson,  the  annalist, 
visited  Cape  May  City,  "a  village  of  about  twenty  houses,"  says  he, 
"  and  the  streets  were  very  clean  and  grassy." 

Very  rapidly  after  the  war  of  1812  Cape  May  began  to  assume  a  dis 
tinctive  character  as  a  watering  place,  and  its  history  from  that  time 
becomes  modified  accordingly.  Gradually  the  fashions  of  Cape  May 
have  changed — are  changing  still,  and  not  for  the  worse. 

For  an  idea  of  the  earlier  methods  of  travel,  and  the  ways  and 
manners  of  sea-side  visitors  in  the  olden  time,  nothing  can  be  better 
than  the  following,  from  Lippincot?  s  Magazine:  "Strange  old  sloops 
and  bateaux  used  in  those  times  to  move  slowly  down  the  Delaware, 
bearing  eager  Philadelphians  on  pleasure  bent.  Other  sojourners 
would  drive  miserably  down  in  their  dearborns,  dragged  by  tired 
nags  through  the  interminable  sandy  road  from  Camden.  On  the 
adoption  of  steam  for  navigation,  a  modest  steamboat  was  conducted 
by  Mr.  Wilmon  Whilldin,  and  cut  its  way  down  the  long  Delaware 
in  what  was  deemed  a  fleet  and  stylish  manner,  greatly  improving  the 
prosperity  of  the  place.  The  customs  of  those  earlier  times  were  very 
primitive  and  democratic.  Large  excursion-parties  of  gay  girls  and 
festive  gentlemen  would  journey  together,  engaging  the  right  to 
occupy  Atlantic  Hall,  a  desolate  barn  of  a  place,  fifty  feet  square, 
whose  proprietor  was  Mr.  Hughes.  Then,  while  the  straggling  vil 
lagers  stared,  these  cargoes  of  mischief-makers  would  bear  down 
upon  the  ocean,  ducking  and  splashing  in  old  suits  of  clothes  brought 
in  their  carpet-sacks,  and  gathering  the  conditions  of  a  fine  appetite. 
The  major-domo  of  Atlantic  Hall,  one  Mackenzie,  would  send  out  to 
see  what  neighbor  had  a  sheep  to  sell;  the  animal  found,  all  the  visitors 
of  the  male  sex  would  turn  to  and  help  him  dress  it.  Meantime,  parties 
of  foragers  would  go  out  among  the  farmers  around  ravaging  the 
neighborhood  for  Indian  corn.  When  the  mutton  was  cooked  and 
the  corn  boiled,  an  appetite  would  have  accumulated  sufficient  to 
make  these  viands  seem  like  the  ambrosia  of  Olympus.  Those  were 
fine,  heart-hold 'times,  and  when  our  predecessors  at  Cape  May  went 
down  for  a  lark,  they  meant  it  and  they  had  it.  At  night,  when  dead- 
tired  after  the  fiddling  and  the  contra-dances,  the  barn-like  hall  was 
partitioned  off  into  two  sleeping-rooms  by  a  drapery  of  sheets.  The 
maids  slept  tranquilly  on  one  side  the  curtains,  the  lads  on  the  other. 
Successive  days  brought  other  sports, — fishing  in  the  clumsy  boats, 


74  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

rides  in  hay-wagons  over  the  deep  white  roads,  the  endless  variety 
being  supplied,  after  all,  by  the  bathing,  which  was  always  the  same 
and  ever  new.  These  primitive  bivouacs  were  succeeded  by  a  steady 
service  of  steamers  on  the  Delaware  and  the  erection  of  substantial 
^nd  civilized  hotels." 

Thomas  H.  Hughes,  Jonas  C.  Miller,  R.  S.  Ludlam,  and  the  Messrs. 
McMakin  were  among  the  first  to  erect  large  and  commodious  board 
ing-houses.  Increasing  custom  demanded  multiplied  conveniences, 
and  a  host  of  varied  places  of  entertainment  grew  up,  from  the  small 
and  modest  restaurant  to  the  monster  hotel  with  its  fifteen  hundred 
guests  at  once.  Meantime  private  cottages  became  numerous,  the 
resident  population  enlarged,  and  a  city  was  built  up  "  where,"  says 
a  writer  in  1856,  "  a  few  years  ago  corn  grew  and  verdure  flourished." 
It  would  be  a  pleasant  task  to  note  the  particulars  of  such  a  progress 
in  full,  and  the  reader  could  not  fail  of  interesting  information,  but  the 
work  is  left  for  another  pen,  or  a  future  time.  Material  increase  and 
prosperity  is  not  the  final  test  of  development,  and  the  scope  of  the 
present  discussion  demands  attention  to  other  and  important  matters. 

§  Man  is  a  religious  being;  the  impulse  to  worship,  an  ineradicable 
instinct  of  his  undying  soul.  Tyranny  is  the  trait  of  the  brute  ;  it  is 
the  bestial  element  in  man  which  offends  against  the  prerogative  •  of 
reason,  and  seeks,  in  intolerance,  despotism  over  the  spirit.  Ambition 
and  avarice  enlarged  their  efforts  to  aggrandize  themselves  in  the 
colonization  of  New  Jersey;  but,  after  all,  the  settlement  of  the  State 
is  found  to  be  due,  through  persecution,  to  the  love  of  liberty  and  the 
principles  of  religion. 

"  America,"  says  an  eminent  historian,  "  was  secured  from  bigotry 
by  her  welcome  to  every  sect ;  each  rallied  round  a  truth,  their  collision 
could  but  eliminate  error.  The  eclectic  American  mind  struggled  for 
universality  while  it  asserted  freedom.  The  Old  World  looked  to  the 
American  Colonies  for  the  benefit  of  commerce,  for  mines,  for  natural 
productions,  but  received  revolutions, — the  consequence  of  moral 
power."  At  Cape  May,  in  as  great  a  degree  as  in  any  other  place, 
influences  were  early  at  work  tending  to  hospitality  of  opinion  and  a 
broad  and  catholic  spirit.  Counting  the  whalemen  as  the  pioneers  of 
the  county,  Calvinism  was  the  form  of  faith  earliest  introduced,  but 
the  Swedish  Lutherans  soon  exerted  an  influence  upon  the  community, 
and  the  Baptists  and  Quakers,  not  long  after,  were  added  as  a  powerful 
element.  The  English  Church  was  strong  on  the  shores  to  the  west 
of  the  bay,  where,  for  a  time,  the  Reverend  William  Becket,  an  author 
and  poet,  held  a  broad  parish.  It  had  its  adherents  at  Cape  May  also, 
but  its  connection  with  the  monarchy,  as  an  established  Church,  weak 
ened  its  influence  at  the  Revolutionary  period. 

The  Baptists  are  said,  in  "  Benedict's  History  of  the  Baptists,"  to 
have  arrived  at  Cape  May  from  England  and  formed  a  church  as  early 


THE  SCUM  OF  THE  REFORMATION:' 


75 


as  1675.  Johnson,  in  his  sketch  of  Salem,  says  the  same;  but  Dr. 
Beesley  supposes  a  mistake  in  the  date,  as  there  is  no  record  of  a  white 
population  until  1685,  none  of  a  Baptist  church  until  1711.  Else 
where  the  doctor  writes,  "  History  throws  no  light  on  the  original 
occupiers  of  the  soil.  Conjecture  only  can  be  consulted  on  the  sub 
ject."  It  is  quite  probable  that  some  of  the  Mennonist  Baptists  of 
Plockhoy's  colony  may  have  escaped  to  Cape  May,  from  the  spoliation 
of  Carr,  in  1664,  with  Swedes  and  Dutch  from  Christina  and  New 
Amstel, — refugees  for  the  same  cause. 

The  Baptists,  "  the  scum  of  the  Reformation,"  as  they  were  called, 
were  the  democrats  of  the  Protestant  Church ;  the  Calvinists  aspired 
for  theocracy,  and  made  the  Church  dominant  in  the  State  ;  the  Church 
of  England  took  "  submission"  to  royal  prerogative  as  a  "  badge,"  and 
Luther  taught  that  it  was  "  a  heathenish  doctrine ;  that  a  wicked  ruler 
may  be  deposed."  But,  plebeians  themselves,  the  Baptists  were  consist 
ent,  and  unflinchingly  dealt  with  the  relations  of  life,  threatening  an 
end  to  kingcraft,  priestcraft,  and  feudalism.  Hosts  of  the  peasantry  of 
Germany  perished  in  the  persecutions  against  the  Baptists  ;  arrogantly 
they  were  trodden  under  foot,  and  scorn  and  reproach  heaped  upon 
their  memory.  As  might  be  expected,  wherever  the  Baptists  found 
shelter  in  America,  in  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  they 
became  a  power,  witnessing  for  independence,  republicanism,  and  free 
religion. 

One  of  the  early  pastors  of  the  Baptists  at  Cape  May  was  Nathaniel 
Jenkins,  a  Welshman,  born  in  Cardiganshire  in  1678.  He  arrived  in 
America  in  1710,  and  assumed  his  position  in  the  church  at  Cape  May 
in  1712.  Mr.  Jenkins  was  a  man  of  character  and  ability,  with  fair 
education  ;  from  1723  to  1733  he  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly;  he 
was  also  a  trustee  in  the  Loan  Office,  and  a  local  deputy  and  attorney 
of  Governor  Hamilton,  in  all  of  which  positions  he  served  with  honor. 
Not  long  after  the  Baptist  pastor  became  a  legislator  he  had  the  oppor 
tunity  of  doing  the  state  some  service  and  distinguishing  his  princi 
ples.  The  emigrants  from  New  England,  accustomed  to  puritanical 
rigor,  quite  conscientiously  strove  for  a  long  time  to  engraft  their  perse 
cuting  policy  upon  the  institutions  of  New  Jersey.  When  Mr.  Jenkins 
was  first  a  member,  a  bill  was  brought  into  the  Assembly  to  punish 
such  as  denied  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  the  divinity  of  Christ,  the 
inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  etc.,  etc.  This  the  Baptist  legislator 
opposed  with  all  a  Welshman's  zeal  and  action.  "  I  believe  the  doc 
trines  in  question,"  said  he,  "as  much  as  the  promoter  of  that  ill- 
designed  bill,  but  will  never  consent  to  oppose  the  opposers  with  law, 
or  with  any  weapon  save  that  of  argument."  "Accordingly,  the  bill 
was  suppressed,  to  the  great  mortification  of  those  ^vho  wanted  to 
raise  in  New  Jersey  the  spirit  which  so  raged  in  New  England." 

The  Baptist  church  was  from  six  to  seven  miles  north  of  Sea  Grove, 


76  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

at  what  is  now  the  district  of  Cape  May  Court-House;  there  Mr.  Jen 
kins  died  and  there  is  his  grave. 

The  early  presence  and  work  of  the  Baptists  at  Cape  May  perhaps 
left  fewer  to  adhere  to  the  Quakers.  There  were  a  number  of  Friends 
at  the  Cape  in  the  early  days,  but  they  never  became  as  numerous  as 
in  Cumberland  and  other  counties.  Neither  the  Friends  nor  any  others 
have  been  persecuted  at  Cape  May.  Quakers  generally  went  where 
they  were  not  wanted,  but  needed  ;  sometimes  their  peculiar  principles 
subjected  them  to  loss,  even  at  Cape  May,  but  no  persecution  appears 
to  have  been  intended.  Thomas  Learning,  who  came  to  Cape  May  in 
1692,  and  became  a  whaleman,  and  then  a  farmer,  seems  to  have  been 
a  Quaker;  among  other  things  he  records  :  "  In  1706,  I  built  my  house. 
Samuel  Matthews  took  a  horse  from  me  worth  ,£/,  because  I  could 
not  train."  "  Training"  would  have  prevented  the  levy,  and  paying  the 
fine  for  contempt  would  have  saved  the  horse  from  sale;  Quaker  prin 
ciples  forbade  one  and  the  other;  it  was  hard  upon  Thomas  Learning, 
but  what  could  Samuel  Matthews  do  with  a  Christian  who  would  not 
fight — nor  swear  ! 

Within  the  memory  of  the  elder  people  of  this  generation,  a  Quaker 
meeting-house  stood  in  the  northern  part  of  Cape  May  County,  and 
there  the  tradition  is  that  year  after  year,  every  First-day,  two  old 
Quakers  got  together,  and  silently  sat  out  the  hours  ;  furthermore,  these 
Friends  were  not  friendly,  not  on  speaking  terms,  and  so  spake  not 
at  all.  By  and  by  one  of  the  old  men  died,  and  then  the  survivor  sat 
alone,  scarcely  more  solitary,  no  whit  more  silent,  until  at  last  he  too 
came  no  more.  But  the  part  the  Quakers  took  in  founding  Cape  May 
County  has  not  been  without  a  permanent  effect  for  good, — and  there 
are  men  to-day  everywhere  who,  could  they  but  learn  to  hold  their 
tongues  as  faithfully  as  the  two  in  the  above  story,  "  the  world  would 
be  the  better  for  it !" 

Pre-eminently,  Calvinism  has  appealed  to  the  human  intellect.  The 
Democratic  State,  Free  Church,  and  Common  School  arose  together. 
The  Church  which  invoked  thought,  as  a  co-worker  with  zeal  and  faith, 
gave  guarantees  to  progress;  the  Antinomians  of  Massachusetts  ad 
vanced  beyond  Geneva,  and  in  Connecticut,  where  Calvinism  enjoyed  a 
hundred  years  of  peace,  Massachusetts  was  left  behind.  There  reli 
gious  pride  was  forgotten;  predestination  was  less  considered  than 
philanthropy  ;  persecution  was  abandoned,  and  reason  and  charity  were 
made  the  basis  of  law.  "  Virtue,"  said  the  great  Connecticut  Presby 
terian  divine,  Jonathan  Edwards,  "  consists  in  universal  love."  From 
the  churches  of  Connecticut  were  drawn  the  men  and  women  who 
planted  Presbyterianism  at  Cape  May;  there  also  freedom  and  peace 
favored  the  finest  developments,  and  the  influence  of  Calvinism  may  be 
recognized  in  tne  stability,  thoroughness,  and  intelligence  which  have 
characterized  the  people. 


HISTORY  OF  COLD  SPRING   CHURCH.  77 

The  first  Presbyterian  church  in  Cape  May  County  was  established 
at  Cold  Spring,  two  miles  to  the  north  of  Sea  Grove;  its  earliest 
chronicles  have  disappeared,  but  it  is  recorded  that  the  first  minister 
was  the  Rev.  John  Bradner,  a  native  of  Scotland.  Mr.  Bradner  was 
a  candidate  for  the  ministry  when  invited  to  Cold  Spring,  but  Rev. 
Allen  H.  Brown,  in  his  "Outline  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  West  South  Jersey,"  says  he  had  no  authority  to  preach,  and  it 
marks  the  unorganized  state  of  Church  affairs  at  the  time,  that  Messrs. 
Davis,  Hampton,  and  Henry,  the  three  nearest  ministers,  took  the  re 
sponsibility  of  examining  and  licensing  him  in  March,  1714,  he  being 
ordained  May  6th,  1715.  In  1721  Mr.  Bradner  was  removed  to  Goshen, 
Orange  County,  New  York,  still  keeping,  however,  his  connection  with 
the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Bradner  died  before  September, 
1733.  The  estate  now  occupied  as  the  parsonage,  consisting  of  some 
two  hundred  acres,  was  conveyed  by  him,  for  the  use  of  the  pastor  of 
this  Church,  to  Humphrey  Hughes,  George  Hand,  John  Parsons, 
Joseph  Weldon  (Whilldin),  James  Spicer,  and  twenty-seven  others. 
Mr.  Bradner  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Samuel  Finley,  who,  as  a  resident 
at  Cape  May,  often  officiated,  though  not  settled  there.  Mr.  Finley  was 
distinguished  for  learning  and  personal  holiness;  the  great  revival 
among  the  Presbyterian  and  Baptist  churches  from  1740  to  1743  was 
regarded  as,  in  a  large  degree,  God's  blessing  upon  his  labors  ;  in  1761 
he  became  President  of  Princeton  College  ;  he  was  made  a  doctor  of 
divinity,  by  the  University  of  Glasgow,  in  1763,  and,  after  an  active  and 
useful  life,  died  in  remarkable  peace  and  happiness,  at  Philadelphia, 
July  1 6th,  1766,  being  then  fifty-one  years  of  age. 

From  1721  to  1751  the  Cold  Spring  Church  had  no  settled  minister; 
Messrs.  Beatty,  Dean,  Davenport,  and  others,  were  a  temporary  supply. 
The  Rev.  Daniel  Lawrence  was  at  last  installed,  June  2Oth,  1754.  Of 
his  ministry  little  is  known,  except  that  in  addition  to  his  labors  at 
Cape  May  he  was  often  at  the  Forks  of  Brandy  wine,  and,  in  I755> 
went  to  preach  at  "  New  England  over  the  mountains."  Mr.  Law 
rence  ministered  to  the  Cold  Spring  Church  twelve  years  ;  he  died  in 
1766;  his  grave  is  at  Cold  Spring.  After  the  decease  of  Mr.  Law 
rence,  the  Rev.  John  Brainerd  supplied  the  Cold  Spring  pulpit  in  1769 
and  1770,  and  there  is  a  report  that  a  Mr.  Schenck,  a  progenitor  of  the 
Hon.  Robert  Schenck,  preached  at  Cape  May,  probably  about  this 
time. 

Mr.  James  Watt  was  the  next  minister ;  the  tombstone  records  his 
death  November  iQth,  1789,  aged  46  years.  Mr.  Watts  is  said  to  have 
been  a  man  remarkable  for  disinterested  kindness,  integrity,  and  ability; 
he  was  of  the  First  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  and  represented  that 
body  in  the  General  Assembly  of  1789. 

The  sombre  manners  of  some  of  the  stern  New  England  forefathers 
gave  reason  for  an  accusation  trite  as  untrue,  that  Presbyterians  were 


;8  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

always  an  austere,  sour,  morose  set  of  ascetics  ;  the  biographical  anec 
dotes  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Watt  might  be  quoted  in  refutal.  Like  the 
apostle  Peter,  Mr.  Watt  was  much  inclined  to  "  go  a-fishing,"  and  of 
all  fish  the  devil-fish  was  the  one  he  most  delighted  to  pursue.  "  The 
devil"  is  often  a  large,  powerful  fish,  its  capture  rough  sport.  On  one 
occasion,  while  accompanied  by  two  other  clergymen,  Mr.  Watt  har 
pooned  a  devil-fish  in  Delaware  Bay,  so  large  and  strong  that  it 
rapidly  drew  the  boat  toward  the  sea.  Amid  the  apprehension  felt  by 
all,  but  especially  by  his  guests,  Dr.  Watt,  as  he  was  familiarly  called, 
broke  out  in  hearty  laughter.  He  assured  his  companions  that  he 
could  not  conceal  his  amusement  at  the  idea  of  three  clergymen  of 
the  orthodox  Church  being  run  away  with  by  the  Devil ! 

Mr.  Watt  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Abijah  Davis,  of  whom  there 
is  no  record.  The  Rev.  David  Edwards  followed  him,  dying  in  1813. 
After  1808,  the  church-record  has  been  preserved.  The  Rev.  Isaac 
A.  Ogden  was  installed  1817;  he  resigned  and  went  West  in  1825. 
His  successor  was  the  Rev.  Alvin  H.  Parker,  installed  June  iQth,  1825, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  at  Cold  Spring. 
The  elders  composing  the  session  were  Matthew  Whillden  (Whilldin), 
John  Stites,  Jacob  Foster,  Jesse  Hughes,  and  Jacob  R.  Hughes.  Moses 
Williamson  was  ordained  and  installed  at  Cold  Spring  in  1831  ;  he 
founded  a  successful  academy  there.  Under  his  ministry  the  church 
prospered;  he  resigned  in  1872,  being  now  an  honored  resident  of 
Cape  May  City. 

The  pastor  at  Cold  Spring  is  the  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Dewing,  to  whom, 
with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alfred  E.  Nevins,  thanks  are  due  for  items  of  this 
history.  Mr.  Dewing  began  his  labors  October  1st,  1873,  and  was 
installed  May  6th,  1874.  The  Cold  Spring  Church  has  two  hundred 
members;  the  Sabbath-school  two  hundred  and  fifty  scholars ;  a  chapel 
has  been  built  near  the  Cape,  and  the  church  improved,  the  means 
tberefor  being  derived  from  a  legacy  by  Hon.  Matthew  Marcy. 

The  Presbyterian  church  at  Cape  Island  was  erected  in  1845,  as 
"the  visitors'  church;"  there  the  Rev.  Mr.  Williamson,  before  men 
tioned,  preached  on  Sabbath  and  Tuesday  evenings,  until  1851,  when 
the  Cape  Island  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized.  The  Rev.  E. 
P.  Shields  is  now  in  charge,  and  under  his  "  diligent  culture"  and 
"judicious  oversight,"  says  Dr.  Nevins,  the  society  is  prosperous. 
There  is  also  an  Episcopal,  a  Methodist,  and  a  Baptist  church  at 
Cape  May  City. 

In  the  Cold  Spring  church-yard,  and  in  another  burying-place  near 
the  bay,  above  the  steamboat  landing,  are  entombed  the  ashes  of  many 
of  the  pioneers  of  Cape  May,  and  of  the  generations  which  followed 
them.  The  tombstone  is  the  only  record  of  some  who,  once  active  and 
conspicuous,  are  now  no  more  regarded ;  their  names,  their  memory, 
obsolete,  except  among  the  venerable  few. 


\]  W 

ALEXANDER    WHILLDIN,    FOUNDER    OF   SEA   GROVE. 


THE  SAFE  BASIS   OF  PROGRESS.  ^ 

But  an  enlightened  faith  dwells  not  in  tombs,  and  recognizes  death 
only  as  an  incident  of  life;  they  whose  bodies  went  down  into  the 
grave  at  Cape  May  came  to  their  earthly  consummation  in  a  land  where 
the  hope  of  a  happy  immortality  was  part  of  the  common  creed. 
Strong  in  religious  faith,  upheld  by  a  consciousness  of  spiritual  things, 
the  hour  of  their  departure  was  to  many  of  them  an  hour  of  triumph. 
One  and  all,  they  lived — they  died ;  their  example  still  remains :  in 
high  or  low  degree  they  filled  the  sphere  they  found,  "  whereunto 
they  were  appointed."  The  soul  scorns  the  history  that  ends  at  the 
grave;  as  we  stand  amid  the  trampled  dust  of  by-gone  myriads,  it  lifts 
its  voice  within,  to  assert  the  presence  of  the  angelic  hosts  and  pro 
claim  over  all  the  just  and  loving  providence  of  God. 

Considering  thus  briefly  the  history  of  the  churches  of  Cape  May, 
regarding  especially  the  Presbyterian  organization,  it  is  noticeable  that 
while  Calvinism  has  been  influential,  it  has  by  no  means  been  the  sole 
creed  of  the  people  ;  the  author  follows  the  record  of  Presbyterianism 
at  greatest  length,  because  the  past  history  of  that  church  and  the 
recent  action  of  Presbyterians  at  Sea  Grove  are  strikingly  pertinent 
to  his  argument,  that  freedom  and  equality  are  the  safe  basis  of  ma 
terial  and  spiritual  progress. 

Society,  as  some  imagine,  depends  upon  despotism,  and  religion  they 
think  a  tender  plant,  thriving  best  in  the  shadow  of  a  throne,  hedged 
by  bayonets  ;  grafted,  at  least,  upon  some  constitution,  and  guarded  by 
facile  courts.  The  Presbyterian  Church  is  a  free,  a  self-governing 
republican  church.  New  Jersey  has  been  democratic  in  the  extreme, 
and  absolutely  tolerant.  At  Cape  May  Presbyterianism  has  had  free 
dom,  continuity,  scope,  and  time,  without  isolation;  it  is  fair  to  accept 
the  outgrowth  as  a  test  of  democratic  republicanism  and  of  the  ten 
dency  of  Calvinism  in  the  United  States.  To  learn  this  requires,  in 
addition  to  a  survey  of  the  past,  an  observation  of  the  novel  yet 
characteristic  developments  of  the  present 

§  In  passing  from  that  which  has  become  historical  in  relation  to  the 
Presbyterians  of  Cape  May  to  an  observation  of  the  present,  one  thing 
may  be  remarked  of  peculiar  interest  and  significance:  the  faith  of  the 
forefathers  has,  as  it  were,  become  hereditary;  the  names  of  prominent 
Presbyterians  to-day  are  those  found  in  the  old  church  chronicles  and 
traditions.  Thus,  Joseph  Weldon  (Whilldon,  Whillden,  or  Whilldin) 
was  one  of  the  original  trustees  of  Cold  Spring  Church.  Matthew 
Whillden  (Whilldin),  with  John  Stites  and  Jesse  and  Jacob  R.  Hughes, 
were  elders  of  the  session  in  1825,  and  to-day  Alexander  Whilldin,  after 
serving  his  church  for  a  full  generation  as  an  elder,  is  now  President 
of  the  Sea  Grove  Association.  Of  the  above  officers  of  the  church, 
Mr.  John  Stites  and  Matthew  Whilldon  each  held  the  position  of 
"active  and  ruling  elders"  for  fifty  years  or  more;  they  were  contem 
poraries,  and  their  terms  of  office  were  nearly  coincident. 


So  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

The  organization  over  which  Mr.  Alexander  Whilldin  presides, 
having  both  secular  and  religious  purposes,  is  Presbyterian  in  its 
antecedents  and  affiliations,  though  not  exclusively  sectarian  in  its 
constituency  and  designs,  yet  its  work  has  been  one  of  the  most 
striking  manifestations  of  character  and  tendency  given  by  Presby 
terians  for  many  years  ;  and  hence  the  value  of  the  history  of  the 
Association,  and  its  force  as  evidence  in  establishing  the  assumptions 
which  are  embodied  in  the  first  paragraphs  of  this  work,  and  which 
are  the  conclusion  of  its  argument. 

Following  the  course  of  our  narrative  and  the  discussion  together, 
the  history  of  Sea  Grove  becomes  repuisite,  and  immediately  in  order. 
No  account  of  the  Sea  Grove  Association,  its  origin  and  operations,  can 
be  at  all  complete  without  some  sketch,  more  or  less  circumstantial, 
of  the  gentleman  who  presides  over  the  business  of  that  corporation; 
hence  the  necessity  of  reference  to  him  in  the  succeeding  paragraphs. 

The  founder  of  Sea  Grove  is  a  native  of  Philadelphia,  having  been 
born  in  that  city  in  1808;  his  father  was  a  sea-captain,  and  a  native 
of  New  Jersey.  In  1812,  leaving  France  on  a  return  voyage  to  this 
country,  he  never  reached  our  shores,  no  tidings  of  his  fate  ever 
coming  to  relieve  the  suspense  of  the  bereaved  family.  This  sad 
event  left  Alexander  Whilldin  an  orphan  at  the  early  age  of  four  years. 
The  widow  with  her  son  and  two  daughters  left  Philadelphia,  and  went 
to  reside  at  the  old  homestead  in  Cape  May  County. 

There,  on  the  old  farm  near  the  Court-House,  Alexander  lived  for 
twelve  years,  receiving  only  the  meagre  education  that  the  country 
school-house  of  that  day  could  give.  In  his  sixteenth  year  he  returned 
to  Philadelphia  and  entered  a  store,  where,  without  grumbling,  he 
performed  the  duties  of  youngest  clerk,  including  making  the  fires, 
sweeping  the  store,  running  of  errands,  and  other  things  too  often 
counted  as  drudgery  nowadays.  He  was  not  too  proud  to  work, 
and  he  worked  earnestly,  industriously,  faithfully.  He  remained  here 
as  clerk  eight  years,  rising  from  one  position  to  another,  gaining  the 
confidence  of  his  employer  and'  of  all  about  him.  In  1832  he  started 
business  for  himself,  as  a  commission  merchant  in  cotton  and  wool, 
the  first  year  with  a  partner  who  brought  in  needed  capital,  and  after 
wards  alone. 

His  career  as  a  business  man  now  began  in  earnest.  He  soon  de 
veloped  those  traits  which  mark  the  solid  man  of  business  wherever 
you  find  him.  He  was  prudent,  sound  in  judgment,  courteous,  self- 
reliant,  industrious,  and  of  indomitable  energy  and  persistence.  He  at 
once  gave  proof  of  great  executive  ability,  and  of  capacity  to  direct 
extensive  and  complicated  affairs.  With  such  a  power  at  the  helm, 
his  business  rapidly  grew  to  large  proportions  ;  and  although  at  one 
time  embarrassment  surrounded  him,  his  native  resources  of  energy, 
sagacity,  and  superior  judgment  enabled  him  finally  to  extricate  him- 


AN  AMERICAN  CITIZEN.  8 1 

self  honorably,  to.  meet  every  obligation  he  had  assumed,  and  to  build 
himself  up  on  the  experience  of  his  trials  upon  a  broader  and  surer 
basis  than  ever. 

The  peculiar  talents  of  such  a  merchant  could  not  of  course  remain 
the  exclusive  possession  of  his  own  large  business.  Mr.  Whilldin  was 
sought  in  commercial  and  financial  circles,  and  was  for  many  years 
President  of  the  American  Life  Insurance  Company  of  Philadelphia, 
and  prominently  interested  in  the  management  of  other  pecuniary 
trusts.  His  philanthropic  sympathies,  known  generosity,  and  the 
personal  interest  he  has  always  taken  in  educational,  benevolent,  and 
religious  enterprises  have  made  him  prominent  also  in  many  noble 
public  charities  of  Philadelphia ;  his  upright  character,  and  wisdom  in 
counsel,  making  him  invaluable  as  a  leader  in  his  own  church  denomi 
nation,  and  very  efficient  as  a  manager  in  the  American  Sunday-school 
Union,  Presbyterian  Hospital,  and  other  worthy  educational  and  phil 
anthropic  institutions. 

A  truthful  likeness  of  Mr.  Whilldin  is  included  in  the  illustrations 
of  this  work.  Although  nearing  his  seventieth  year  after  a  laborious 
life,  he  enjoys  the  reward  of  ever  temperate  habits  in  an  eye  as  clear, 
a  step  as  elastic,  and  a  mind  as  vigorous  as  most  men  of  fifty.  He  is 
still  actively  at  the  head  of  his  extended  business,  which  is  conducted 
in  company  with  his  three  sons,  and  remains,  as  he  has  been  for  a  full 
half-century,  a  respected  and  useful  citizen"  of  the  great  city  where  he 
was  born.  Though  so  long  a  resident  of  Philadelphia,  the  experienced 
merchant  has  never  outworn  his  fondness  for  the  scenes  of  his  boy 
hood,  or  failed  to  appreciate  the  advantages  of  an  annual  sojourn  at 
the  old  familiar  sea-side  places.  It  has  been  for  many  years  his  delight 
to  escape  from  the  cares  of  business,  and  seek  beside  the  waters  of 
Cape  May  the  recreation  which  nowhere  else  seemed  as  grateful  and 
complete.  For  half  a  century,  except  one  season  in  Europe,  he  has 
been  there  every  summer. 

Not  only  as  a  visitor  to  Cape  May,  but  as  the  holder  of  considerable 
real  estate  there,  Mr.  Whilldin  has  watched  with  interest  the  growth 
and  peculiar  prosperity  of  the  county  ;  desirous,  as  a  philanthropist, 
that  all  should  enjoy  and  be  benefited  by  the  natural  peculiarities  of 
the  place,  he  has  seen,  with  regret,  the  increase  of  a  bad  fashion  which 
renders  the  season  for  rest  and  health-giving  resort  to  nature  but  a 
wearying  round  of  dissipation.  "  More  than  twenty  years  ago,"  says 
the  founder  of  Sea  Grove,  "  I  had  this  subject  under  consideration." 
Many  beside  Mr.  Whilldin  had  long  deplored  watering-place  extrava 
gance,  and  several  denominations  had  established  quiet  places  of  con 
genial  resort  for  their  members,  but  none  existed  among  Presbyterians. 
Providentially,  as  some  of  his  friends  declare,  Mr.  Whilldin  was  in 
possession  of  a  most  convenient  location,  whose  great  but  long-reserved 
natural  advantages  invited  occupation;  besides,  he  had  the  courage, 


82  SCHEYICHBI  AND   THE  STRAND. 

the  means,  and  the  influence,  to  make  successful  whatever  he  con 
sidered  it  his  duty  to  undertake. 

The  site  of  Sea  Grove  was  purchased  of  "  The  West  New  Jersey 
Society  in  England,"  by  Jonathan  Pyne  the  elder,  through  Jeremiah 
Basse  as  agent;  being  inherited  by  Jonathan  Pyne  (2d)  and  Abigail 
Pyne,  it  was  deeded  by  them  and  Robert  Courtney,  Abigail  Pyne's 
husband,  to  Henry  Stites,  in  1712.  The  property  remained  in  the 
Stites  family  until  the  marriage  of  Jane  G.  Stites  with  Alexander  Whill- 
din,  in  1836,  and  was  by  them  conveyed  to  the  Sea  Grove  Association, 
March  1 5th,  1875,  having  been  in  Presbyterian  hands  one  hundred  and 
sixty-three  years. 

"1  have  come,"  said  Mr.  Whilldin,  "  to  consider  it  the  providence  of 
God  that  we  have  been  led  to  retain  this  Presbyterian  ground  all  these 
years,  to  become  a  subject  of  special  consecration  at  last."  To  him  it 
seemed  little  less  than  desecration  to  appropriate  the  place  he  loved  to 
the  use  for  which  nature  had  pre-eminently  fitted  it — that  of  a  superior 
sea-side  resort — if  it  must  be  done  in  the  ordinary  manner.  Yet  it 
seemed  a  pity  so  fine  a  place  as  Sea  Grove  should  benefit  so  few,  es 
pecially  when  scores  of  thousands  in  the  great  cities  not  far  away 
needed  every  summer  the  comfort  and  help  of  the  ocean  air,  and  yet 
found  themselves  repelled  and  excluded  from  most  popular  resorts  by 
the  crowding,  the  confusion,  the  mad  revelry,  and  recklessness  which 
more  and  more  characterized  them. 

Under  the  circumstances,  Mr.  Whilldin  took  counsel  in  the  first 
place,  as  has  been  stated,  of  his  own  thoughts  and  inspirations,  for  some 
time  considering  the  matter;  then,  like  a  wise  and  practical  man,  he 
conferred  with  his  wife.  "We,"  said  he,  "  laid  the  matter  before  God;" 
and  then,  feeling  as  if  Heaven  intended  to  bless  the  work,  the  Presby 
terian  man  of  business  conferred  with  his  brethren.  His  suggestions 
were  generally  approved,  and  it  was  decided  to  utilize  the  choice  loca 
tion  at  the  point  of  Cape  May,  and  "furnish  a  Moral  and  Religious  Sea 
side  Home  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  welfare  of  Man,  where  he  may 
be  refreshed  and  invigorated  body  and  soul,  and  better  fitted  for  the  highest 
and  noblest  duties  of  life" 

In  furtherance  of  this  object  an  organization  was  effected  the  i8th 
of  February,  1875,  which  was  chartered,  with  liberal  franchises,  by  the 
Senate  and  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey  the  same 
year. 

This  corporation  was  styled  the  "  Sea  Grove  Association,"  and  its 
Board  of  Directors  was  made  to  consist  of  Alexander  Whilldin,  Dr. 
V.  M.  D.  Marcy,  Downs  Edmunds,  J.  Newton  Walker,  and  John  Wana- 
maker. 

Section  6th  of  the  charter  vests  the  Board  of  Directors  with  the 
power  of  regulation  and  control  in  the  following  terms  : 

"6.  And  be  it  enacted,  That  a  majority  of  the  directors  for  the  time 


LA  W  AND   ORDER  AT  SEA    GROVE.  3  3 

being  shall  form  a  board  for  the  transaction  of  the  business  of  said 
corporation,  and  shall  have  power  to  make  such  by-laws,  ordinances, 
and  regulations  as  shall  seem  necessary  and  convenient  for  the  man 
agement  and  disposition  of  the  stock,  effects,  and  concerns  of  the  said 
corporation,  and  for  the  purpose  of  restricting  nuisances  and  of  compel 
ling  a  uniform  system  of  improvements;  the  said  company  are  hereby 
authorized  and  invested  with  power  to  incorporate  into  any  deed  or 
conveyance  made  by  them,  whether  in  fee  simple  or  otherwise,  a  clause 
or  condition  forbidding  the  sale  upon  the  premises  of  any  spirituous 
or  intoxicating  liquors,  and  to  require  of  any  grantee  of  said  company 
to  make  and  maintain  such  style  and  character  of  improvement  on  said 
lots  so  conveyed,  or  on  the  streets  fronting  thereon,  as  to  the  said  com 
pany  may  seem  best  for  securing  a  uniform  system  of  development  and 
improvement  throughout  the  said  settlement ;  and  the  board  of  directors 
of  said  company  shall  have  the  power  to  appoint  such  peace  officers  as 
they  may  deem  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  order  on  the 
premises,  which  officers  shall  be  paid  by  the  said  company,  but  shall 
have  when  on  duty  the  same  power  and  authority  and  immunities  which 
constables  and  other  peace  officers  under  the  laws  of  this  State  possess 
or  enjoy  when  on  duty  as  such,  and  they  shall  have  the  same  power  to 
enforce  obedience  to  any  rule  and  regulation  of  said  corporation  for  the 
preservation  of  quiet  and  good  order  on  the  premises  of  said  corporation 
and  their  grantees;  provided,  that  such  by-laws  or  regulations  are  not 
contrary  to  the  laws  or  constitution  of  the  United  States  or  of  this  State." 

Subsequently  the  officers  of  the  Association  were  elected,  with  Alex 
ander  Whilldin,  President  and  Treasurer,  20  South  Front  Street,  Phila 
delphia  ;  J.  C.  Sidney,  Secretary,  204  South  Fifth  Street,  Philadelphia ; 
Downs  Edmunds,  Assistant  Secretary,  Cape  May  Point. 

The  Directors  of  the  Sea  Grove  Association  adopted  a  series  of  by 
laws  and  regulations  which  provided  for  the  systematic  and  business 
like  conduct  of  its  affairs,  according  to  the  terms  of  its  charter.  Of 
these  regulations  the  12th,  1 3th,  and  1 5th  are  special  and  significant  in 
character,  and  by  their  nature  or  general  interest,  and  are  therefore  here 
inserted : 

"  12.  All  buildings  and  other  improvements  will  be  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  directors  or  to  an  agent  appointed  for  that  purpose  by 
them. 

"  13.  All  deeds  will  contain  a  clause  for  the  purpose  of  restricting 
nuisances  and  of  compelling  a  uniform  system  of  improvement,  forbid 
ding  the  sale  or  keeping  for  sale  any  spirituous  or  intoxicating  liquors, 
and  generally  providing  for  the  submission  to  such  rules  and  regulations 
as  the  Board  may  from  time  to  time  direct.  Neither  the  holder  of  a  lot, 
stockholder,  or  other  person  shall  permit  any  amusement  or  act  incon 
sistent  with  the  character  of  the  place  and  the  objects  of  the  Association, 
as  set  forth  in  the  charter.  ******** 


84 


SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 


"  15.  The  Pavilion  is  intended  for  religious  or  other  meetings.  Parties 
desiring  to  occupy  it  will  not  be  permitted  to  do  so  without  the  authority 
in  writing  of  the  President,  or  in  his  absence  of  the  majority  of  the 
Board,  who  shall  first  ascertain  the  character  of  the  intended  meeting, 
refusing  the  use  thereof  to  all  such  as  are  not  compatible  with  the  objects 
and  purposes  of  the  Association." 

The  stock  of  the  company  being  taken  up.  at  once,  operations  began, 
and  were  pushed  with  great  energy.  After  the  manner  of  the  Calvinist 
Puritans  of  New  England  long  ago,  the  first  structure  in  the  new  settle 
ment  was  an  edifice  for  the  purposes  of  education  and  religion.  "  The 
Pavilion,"  though  vastly  different  from  the  comfortless  churches  in 
which  the  Pilgrims  delighted,  was  yet  the  creation  of  the  same  spirit, 
though  working  under  vastly  different  circumstances.  As  a  building, 
it  is  well  adapted  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  has  been  constructed.  In 
whatever  respect  it  may  fall  short  of  the  too  great  splendor  of  some 
city  sanctuaries,  it  has  one  excellence  in  which  many  costly  churches 
are  deficient:  as  seen  by  the  view  on  another  page,  it  admits  of  perfect 
ventilation. 

Completed  late  in  the  spring  of  1875,  the  history  of  the  Sea  Grove 
Pavilion  is  evidently  brief;  still,  as  the  centre  of  Sea  Grove  enterprise, 
it  has  already  attracted  much  attention,  and  been  the  scene  of  several 
memorable  gatherings.  For  the  ensuing  record  and  description  of  the 
first  season  of  Pavilion  meetings  the  author  is  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Alfred 
E.  Nevins,  D.D.,  the  superintendent  and  friendly  manager  of  the  services. 
Though  a  distinguished  array  of  clerical  talent  of  various  denominations 
was  always  available  through  the  season,  yet  to  the  supervision  and 
care  of  Dr.  Nevins  was  due  much  of  the  regularity  and  success  of  those 
assemblies.  In  connection  with  the  regular  Pavilion  services  on  Sunday, 
a  Sabbath-school  was  organized,  and  conducted  with  decided  success 
by  Mr.  S.  E.  Hughes,  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church. 

Recounting  the  already  stated  objects  of  the  Sea  Grove  Association, 
Dr.  Nevins  proceeds  to  remark:  "  During  the  season  of  1875,  it  was 
truly  gratifying  to  see  how  this  '  object'  was  kept  in  view,  appreciated, 
and  carried  out.  Early  in  July,  in  the  attractive  structure  set  apart  for 
Divine  service,  and  standing  where  but  a  few  months  before  were  seen 
the  dense  and  dark  forest,  hundreds  of  visitors  were  summoned  from 
the  commodious  hotel  and  handsome  cottages  by  the  clear  and  sweet 
tones  of  the  bell,  ringing  through  the  grove  and  along  the  beach,  to 
engage  in  the  worship  of  their  common  Creator  and  Redeemer.  And 
on  every  succeedJng  Sabbath  was  the  same  invitation  given  and 
accepted.  A  pleasing  spectacle  it  was,  on  such  occasions,  to  behold 
those  who,  though  differing  in  some  points  of  faith,  yet  agreed  in  the 
essential  elements  of  our  holy  religion,  the  veteran  and  the  child,  the 
stranger  and  the  familiar  friend,  all  mingling  their  voices  and  uniting 
their  hearts  in  praise  and  prayer  to  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 


RELIGIOUS  SERVICES  IN  THE  PAVILION.  55 

Jesus  Christ,  and  listening  with  eager  ear  and  ardent  interest  to  the 
exposition  of  His  most  excellent  Word.  Still  more  pleasant,  if  possi 
ble,  was  it  to  see  several  hundreds  of  representative  ministers  and  lay 
men  of  the  various  evangelical  denominations,  who  had  been  invited  to 
convene  for  the  consideration  of  great  moral  and  religious  subjects,  on 
the  25th  of  August,  engage  for  several  days  in  the  noble  Pavilion  in 
earnest  devotions  and  discussions,  and  then  on  the  holy  Sabbath  unite 
in  celebrating  the  love  of  Him  who  '  died  for  our  sins,  according  to  the 
Scriptures,'  who  prays  that  His  followers  'all  may  be  one,'  and  who 
has  gone  to  prepare  for  them  a  place  where  they  shall  dwell  together 
in  blissful  fellowship  through  an  endless  existence.  There  is  some 
thing  in  the  magnitude  and  grandeur  of  the  ocean,  as  it  is  gazed  upon, 
a  great  symbol  of  eternity,  to  overwhelm  the  mind,  and  cast  minor 
matters  into  the  shade.  The  very  sight  of  it,  in  this  view,  tends  to 
magnify  the  essentials  of  Christianity  and  to  minify  its  circumstantials. 
And  this  effect  was  evidently  realized  in  no  small  degree  by  the  visit 
ors  at  Sea  Grove.  May  the  flame  that  was  kindled  on  the  '  shore' — 
a  spot  which,  in  another  land,  Jesus  so  much  delighted  to  frequent — 
send  its  light  and  heat  throughout  the  country  and  the  world ! 

"  'One  sole  baptismal  sign, 

One  Lord,  below,  above. 
Zion,  one  faith  is  thine, 

One  only  watchword — Love. 
From  different  temples  though  it  rise, 
One  song  ascendeth  to  the  skies. 

"  '  Oh,  why  should  they  who  love 

One  Gospel  to  unfold, 
Who  seek  one  home  above, 

On  earth  be  strange  and  cold  ? 
Why,  subjects  of  the  Prince  of  Peace, 
In  strife  abide,  and  bitterness? 

"  «  Head  of  the  church  beneath, 

The  catholic — the  true — 
On  all  her  members  breathe — 

Her  broken  frame  renew  ! 
Then  shall  Thy  perfect  will  be  done, 
When  Christians  love  and  live  as  one.'  " 

While  the  Pavilion  was  going  up,  a  heavy  force  of  men  were  grading 
the  streets,  avenues,  and  boulevards  of  Sea  Grove.  In  the  "  Bird's-eye 
View  of  Sea  Grove"  which  illustrates  this  book,  the  plan  appears  as 
laid  out  by  Mr.  Sidney,  the  architect.  At  the  same  time,  the  founda 
tions  of  the  "Sea  Grove  House"  were  laid,  and  the  building  pushed 
with  great  energy,  being  ready  for  use  and  thronged  with  hundreds  of 
guests  the  same  season.  Simultaneously,  many  cottages  arose  here  and 
there,  all  neat  and  attractive,  and  some  ornately  elegant ;  notably  that 
of  the  Whilldin  family,  illustrated,  with  the  original  Sea  Grove  House, 
in  the  view  of  "  Atlantic  Beach,"  from  a  photograph  taken  upon  the 


86  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

completion  of  the  first  buildings  of  Sea  Grove.  Besides,  as  early  ex 
amples  of  fitness  and  characteristic  good  taste,  might  be  mentioned 
the  cottage  of  John  Wanamaker;  one  for  Mr.  Stockton,  an  Episco 
palian  divine;  several  built  on  account  of  J.  Newton  Walker,  M.D.  ; 
those  constructed  by  Mr.  Hughes,  etc.,  as  shown  in  the  bird's-eye  view. 

Episcopalians,  Lutherans,  Methodists,  and  Christians  of  other  de 
nominations  were  already  owners  of  the  soil,  and  began  to  build ;  be 
sides,  people,  not  members  of  any  church,  were  drawn  by  the  promise 
of  order  and  morality  to  seek  a  resting-place  in  the  borders  of  the  new, 
fast-growing  town.  The  frontispiece  represents  Cape  May  Point,  the  site 
of  Sea  Grove, as  it  appeared  in  1776;  the  picture  of  "Sea  Grove  Beach 
by  Moonlight"  is  a  sketch  of  the  same  locality,  from  a  different  point 
of  view,  just  before  the  lighthouse  was  moved  inland,  the  constant 
action  of  the  sea  having  worn  away  the  low  bluff  until  the  tower 
would  soon  havd  been  in  danger  of  a  fall  into  the  encroaching  waves. 
These  engravings  are  essentially  accurate,  except  that  in  the  original 
paintings,  from  which  both  of  them  were  copied,  the  artist,  Mr.  Charles 
W.  Knapp,  of  Philadelphia,  well  known  by  his  fine  authentic  American 
landscapes,  though  reproducing  faithfully  and  beautifully  from  older 
sketches  and  various  data  the  natural  features  of  each  scene,  has  in 
troduced,  for  artistic  effect,  more  figures  of  men  and  women  than  often 
gathered  on  "  Barren  Beach"  in  those  days.  The  lighthouse  being 
moved  back  in  1847,  the  scene  remained  without  much  change  until 
1875,  when  the  improvements  of  Sea  Grove  began. 

The  "Bird's-eye  View"  is  reduced  from  a  design  by  Armitage,  of 
Mr.  Sidney's  office,  and  gives  the  appearance  of  Sea  Grove  in  the 
spring  of  1876.  Studied  thus  in  connection  and  contrast,  these  pic 
tures  are  more  expressive  than  any  words  the  writer  can  command. 
The  other  views  in  this  volume,  being  from  sketches  by  David  B.  Gul- 
ick,  of  New  York,  are,  of  course,  reliable  pictures  ;  they  present  ar 
tistically  the  actual  features  in  a  peculiar  landscape,  and,  as  will  soon  be 
seen,  are  significant  of  the  remarkable  influence  of  changing  phases  of 
religious  sentiment  upon  general  progress.  Let  the  reader  look  at  the 
picture  of  the  gateway  of  Sea  Grove,  at  the  view  of  Lake  Lily,  and  at 
the  architecture  of  all  the  buildings  in  the  various  scenes,  and  then  com 
pare  the  liberality,  taste,  and  good  sense  of  Presbyterians  to-day,  with 
the  temper  manifested  by  the  conscientiously  ugly  and  uncomfortable 
"meeting-houses"  of  New  England  Calvinists  two  hundred  years  ago! 

§"A  sea-side  resort,"  say  the  Directors  of  the  Sea  Grove  Associa 
tion,  in  one  of  their  publications,  "  is  generally  associated  in  the  mind 
with  lavish  display,  extravagant  living,  dissipation,  and  consequent  ex 
pense,  to  be  regretted  when  the  apparent  pleasure  is  past  and  gone. 
To  families  of  quiet  habits,  and  who  visit  a  summer  resort,  even 
where  expense  is  no  object,  the  glitter  and  show  do  not  compensate 
for  the  health  lost  or  for  bad  habits  formed,  especially  by  the  young. 


SUMMER   HOMES  BESIDE   THE  SEA.  g/ 

The  fashionable  hotel  at  a  watering  place  may  afford  at  enormous 
prices  some  luxuries  and  some  exciting  amusements,  but  attending 
these  are  generally  small,  inconvenient  rooms,  dissipation  of  every  kind, 
a  mixed,  often  immoral,  company,  the  irreverent  element  preponder 
ating  over  the  moral  and  religious."  In  view  of  these  facts,  they  ex 
plain  that  their  enterprise  has  been  undertaken  "  with  the  idea  of  afford 
ing  a  sea-side  resort,  and  sea-side  homes,  with  their  economies  and 
pleasures,  as  well  as  the  influences  arising  from  a  religious  sentiment, 
good  order,  and  a  freedom  from  all  dissipation  attending  the  merely 
fashionable  watering  places." 

To  encourage  home  life  and  influences  at  the  sea-side,  the  greatest 
inducements  are  extended  to  those  who  build  at  Sea  Grove.  Aside  from 
all  other  advantages  of  ready-made  and  perfectly  graded  streets,  etc., 
each  builder  of  a  cottage  will  be  entitled  to  a  free  pass  over  the  West 
Jersey  Railroad  for  one,  two,  or  three  years,  agreeably  to  cost  of  im 
provement  ;  and  all  materials  will  be  carried  at  a  reduced  rate.  The 
Association,  to  facilitate  transit  from  Cape  May  City  and  the  steam 
boat  landing  to  Sea  Grove,  have  constructed  a  horse  railroad  between 
those  places.  Good-sized  lots  at  Sea  Grove  have  been  put  at  moderate 
prices,  and,  to  prevent  monopolizing  speculation,  none  are  sold  except 
to  those  who  agree  to  build  within  three  years.  The  observer  can  de 
tect  neither  overreaching  greed  or  insane  fanaticism  in  the  develop 
ments  of  Sea  Grove  ;  the  enterprise  is  no  crusade,  no  pilgrimage  to 
some  "  holy"  but  unhealthy  sacred  place,  at  the  command  of  super 
stition. 

Presbyterians  to-day  expect  God's  blessing  of  health  only  as  they 
conform  to  natural  laws,  the  dictates  of  sanitary  science,  and  good 
sense.  Speaking  of  the  site  of  their  enterprise,  the  Directors  announce  : 
"  The  land  is  sufficiently  rolling  to  afford  good  drainage  in  every  di 
rection,  and  there  are  many  building-sites  rising  twenty-five  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  ocean.  There  is  no  swamp  on  the  tract,  and  the  whole 
plot  is  available  for  building  purposes.  Water  for  drinking  and  culin 
ary  purposes,  of  the  purest  quality,  is  obtained  on  any  part  of  the  ground 
at  a  depth  of  sixteen  feet  from  the  surface." 

Hospitable  religion,  broad  boulevards,  perfect  drainage,  pure,  plen 
tiful  water,  hygienic  living  ;  this  is  the  Presbyterian  programme  to-day. 
Not  very  long  ago,  moody,  mistaken  "saints,"  of  varied  sects,  counted 
religion,  or  the  madness  they  called  such,  godliness  enough,  leaving 
cleanliness  and  care  for  the  body  to  be  regarded  almost  as  a  vice ; 
herein  is  evident  improvement.  Progress  involves  no  shifting  of  the 
grounds  of  principle,  no  change  in  the  immutable  basis  of  truth  ;  it  is 
a  matter  of  perception  and  receptivity.  It  is  mankind  that  is  "  con 
verted  from  the  error  of  its  way,"  to  grow  in  intelligence,  in  morals,  in 
spiritual  unfolding,  to  the  measure  of  a  perfect  life! 

Peculiar  in  its  origin,  remarkable  in  its  development,  striking  in  its 


88  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

results,  as  a  work  of  high  civilization,  as  an  index  of  progress,  Sea 
Grove  commands  attention  by  the  liberality,  skill,  and  judgment  every 
where  evinced,  but  is  equally  a  display  of  good  taste,  a  substantial  re 
cognition  of  the  claims  of  the  beautiful.  Calling  to  mind  the  "  crop-eared 
boors"  of  Marston  Moor,  the  "  Roundheads"  of  Cromwell's  army,  the 
parliament  of"  Praise  God  Barebones,"  the  grim  Puritans  of  Salem  and 
Boston,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  "the  Saints"  of  New  Haven,  the  Cove 
nanters  of  Scotland,  and  the  early  Presbyterians  of  New  Jersey,  with 
all  the  stern  dogmatists  of  a  persecuted  denomination  whose  members 
were  accused  of  regarding  propriety  and  comeliness  as  a  "  wile  of  the 
wicked  one,"  how  strange,  how  inconsistent  seem  the  works  and 
ways  of  their  lineal  descendants  in  the  spirit — the  inheritors  of  the 
faith,  the  Presbyterians  of  to-day.  Yet,  whatever  may,  at  first  thought, 
seem  to  be  the  case,  Sea  Grove  is  a  coherent  outgrowth  of  Geneva, 
and  Calvinism  as  much  at  home  there  as  it  was  with  the  democratic 
and  catholic  Pilgrim.  Fathers  aboard  the  Mayflower  and  at  Plymouth, 
or  amid  the  privations,  gloom,  austerity,  and  exclusiveness  of  the  per 
secuting  Puritans  during  the  first  years  of  Salem  and  Boston. 

To  make  it  still  more  plain  that  the  principles,  good  manners,  and 
morals  of  the  elder  generations  of  Calvinists  are  essentially  preserved, 
and  their  foibles  alone  omitted,  by  the  people  of  Sea  Grove,  the  following, 
from  the  pen  of  an  experienced,  observing,  orthodox  minister,  is  here 
added:  "Throughout  the  season  a  bright,  cheerful,  and  sociable  spirit 
prevailed.  Innocent  and  agreeable  amusements  abounded.  Cultured 
and  friendly  intercourse  was  cherished.  Guests,  without  any  constraint 
to  do  so,  had  an  opportunity  of  attending  family  worship  morning  and 
evening,  as  well  as  public  Divine  service  on  the  Sabbath.  Nothing  oc 
curred  of  any  kind  to  mar  the  pleasure  of  the  visitors  from  North,  South, 
East,  and  West,  and  every  sign  indicated  a  brilliant  and  useful  future  for 
Sea  Grove.  It  was  evident  to  all  who  visited  the  place  for  a  day,  a 
week,  or  a  month,  that  it  is  just  the  resort  that  is  needed,  one  where 
fashion  and  dissipation  do  not  hold  sway,  where  extravagance  finds  no 
sphere  for  display,  where  guests,  without  an  affected  pretense  of  piety 
or  of  devotional  services,  may  enjoy  the  means  of  grace  to  which  the 
inmates  of  Christian  homes  are  accustomed  in  their  church  relations, 
and  where,  whilst  religious  advantages  are  supplied  and  cherished, 
everything  like  sectarianism  and  bigotry  is  eschewed.  It  was  a  joy 
to  the  writer  that,  during  a  visit  of  a  number  of  weeks  at  Sea  Grove, 
whilst  witnessing  much  cheerful  enjoyment,  and  sharing  in  it,  he  nei 
ther  saw  a  card  or  glass  of  liquor,  nor  heard  a  profane  word.  And  this 
was  peculiarly  gratifying,  as  so  many  young  persons  were  present,  who 
could  not  but  be  benefited  by  so  much  exemption  from  evil  influences, 
while  under  the  power  of  others  of  an  opposite  character,  genial,  cheer 
ing,  manly,  and  eminently  salutary." 

§  It  has  been  stated  that  not  only  Presbyterians,  but  Episcopalians, 


EPISCOPALIANS  AT  SEA   GROVE.  gp 

Lutherans,  Methodists,  and  others  were  attracted  to  Sea  Grove.  To 
show  how  some  of  these  people  regard  the  place  and  its  arrange 
ments  leads  the  author  directly  to  the  point  of  his  perhaps  too  long 
and  circumstantial  argument.  The  subjoined  paragraphs  are  from  an 
Episcopalian  in  training  and  by  long  affiliation  a  liberal  man  and  a 
reformer,  one  familiar  with  great  enterprises,  and  to  whom  some  of  the 
most  remarkable  acts  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  o\ve  their 
conception.  This  gentleman  made  a  careful  examination  of  the  affairs 
of  Sea  Grove  at  an  early  date,  and  in  a  letter  from  thence  to  a  friend, 
but  for  publication,  he  wrote, — 

"Another  visit  to  this  delightful  spot  demonstrated  the  fact  that  the 
success  of  the  enterprise  is  assured. 

"Although  somewhat  surprised  at  the  rapid  advancement  of  the 
work  as  it  appeared  a  few  weeks  ago,  the  sight  presented  last  Saturday 
seemed  quite  bewildering. 

"  The  place,  considering  the  brief  interval,  had  assumed  the  air  of 
a  lively  little  village,  with  evidences  on  all  sides  of  the  greatest  activity 
and  healthy  progress.  Cottages  are  springing  up  as  if  under  the 
inspiration  of  magic,  the  commodious  hotel  recently  begun  is  now 
open,  the  beautiful  wide  avenues  are  being  graded  and  graveled,  the 
sidewalks  gently  elevated  above  the  smooth,  level  drives,  and  the  busy 
workmen  finishing  their  labors  give  hopeful  note  of  preparation  for  the 
coming  season. 

"  The  excursionists  last  Saturday  appeared  to  enjoy  the  visit  very 
much  ;  after  taking  a  bird's-eye  view  of  Sea  Grove  from  the  lofty 
steeple  of  the  Pavilion,  they  strolled  off  along  the  beach,  and  visited 
the  numerous  objects  of  interest,  as  the  clear  fresh-water  lake,  the  new 
hotel,  the  cottages,  and  grounds. 

"A  sign  of  the  progressive  times  is  the  fact  that  men  of  large  ex 
perience,  keen  sagacity,  and  ample  means  are  attracted  to  South  Jersey 
partly  from  its  superior  natural  advantages,  and,  in  some  measure,  from 
the  moral  tone  and  growing  sentiments  of  the  people  upon  the  vital 
questions  of  temperance  and  prohibition,  without  which  no  community 
can  reach  the  highest  degree  of  moral  development  and  material  wealth. 

"  The  Sea  Grove  Association,  composed  of  such  men  as  Messrs. 
Alexander  Whilldin,  John  Wanamaker,  J.  C.  Sidney,  and  others  of  like 
earnestness  and  capacity,  recognizing  these  principles,  has  founded  this 
new  settlement  on  the  basis  of  morality,  religion,  and  temperance,  and 
procured  such  legislation  as  will  effectually  banish,  within  the  cor 
porate  limits,  the  sale  and  traffic  of  intoxicating  liquors.  Built  on  this 
superstructure,  with  its  natural  advantage  of  position,  health,  accessi 
bility,  moral  tone,  and  religious  sentiments,  the  future  of  Sea  Grove  is 
assured. 

"  The  temperance  feature  is  one  which  your  valuable  journal  cannot 
too  highly  commend.  The  beneficent  result  which  will  soon  be  ap- 


9o 


SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 


parent  from  the  practical  workings  of  the  prohibitory  provision  will 
furnish  you  additional  arguments  and  illustrations  to  continue  the 
manly  fight  made  in  Pennsylvania  against  the  rum  traffic  and  in  favor 
of  prohibition  throughout  the  State. 

"  The  party  returned  to  the  city  about  eight  o'clock  without  acci 
dent,  seemingly  well  pleased  with  the  day's  enjoyment." 

But  all  the  world  are  not  Presbyterians,  all  are  not  Episcopalians  ; 
some  are  not  members  of  any  church,  and  yet  are  people  of  discrim 
ination,  at  least  in  secular  matters.  John  Calvin,  in  Geneva,  could  not 
raise  himself  above  the  persecuting  spirit  of  his  age  altogether.  The 
Calvinists  in  Holland,  in  England,  in  Massachusetts,  were  by  the 
record  held  guilty  of  conscientious  bloodshed  for  the  offenses  of  con 
science.  Coming  down  the  tide  of  time,  what  spirit  ruled  at  Sea 
Grove?  The  hospitality,  tolerance,  and  courtesy  of  the  Sea  Grove 
Christians  were  early  put  to  a  test,  and  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they 
bore  the  trial,  the  evidence  of  the  one  who  gave  whatever  provocation 
may  have  been  felt  shall  be  admitted. 

The  letters  here  quoted  from  were  published  at  Boston,  Massachu 
setts,  in  the  "  Banner  of  Light,"  an  old,  ably-conducted  Spiritualist 
journal,  much  respected  by  its  supporters,  and  of  world-wide  circula 
tion.  Addressing  the  editor  as  a  personal  friend,  the  correspondent  at 
Sea  Grove  freely  comments  as  follows : 

"  While  your  various  correspondents  are  sending  you  cheerful  notes 
from  different  points  where  the  thousands  of  liberal  souls  congregate 
and  enjoy  the  satisfaction  of  a  refined  society  and  philosophical  teach 
ings,  I  add  my  scribble  from  another  locality,  where  it  may  seem  that 
I  am  out  of  place  and  ought  to  be  uncomfortable. 

"  Sea  Grove  is  a  creation,  and  a  creation  by  Presbyterians.  If  you 
take  your  United  States  map,  and  let  your  pen-handle  run  down  the 
coast  of  the  Atlantic  southwardly  until  you  reach  Cape  Henlopen,  you 
will  be  fourteen  miles  beyond  where  I  am.  Still,  Cape  Henlopen  light, 
shining  across  the  entrance  of  Delaware  Bay,  threw  its  rays  into  my 
window  last  night,  for  I  slept  at  the  very  end  of  Southern  New  Jersey, 
on  the  shore  of  the  actual  Cape  May.  The  long-established  watering- 
place  of  that  name  is  north  of  here,  in  a  much  less  desirable  locality, 
not  on  a  cape  at  all — hence,  in  our  American  way,  its  name. 

"  On  the  point  of  the  Cape  a  few  Presbyterian  gentlemen  and  capitalists 
have  laid  out  in  noble  style  a  small  town,  building,  as  their  forefathers 
in  the  faith  in  New  England  did,  a  church  first,  and  then,  as  the  pilgrim 
fathers  did  not,  a  comfortable  hotel,  with  modern  improvements,  next ! 
Nor  this  alone,  but  they  have  leveled  the  sand  banks,  improved  the 
shores  of  a  small  fresh-water  lake,  and  multiplied  streets,  roads,  ave 
nues,  and  boulevards  in  every  direction.  Fine  cottages  have  been 
erected,  and  the  place  is  rapidly  developing  characteristics  of  material 
order  and  beauty. 


DISINTERESTED  EVIDENCE.  g{ 

"The  Abraham,  the  Moses,  the  Solomon  of  this  enterprise  is  Alex 
ander  Whilldin,  Esq.,  a  wealthy  wool  merchant  of  the  city  of  Philadel 
phia,  in  whose  family  the  land  hereabouts  has  been  a  legacy  for  genera 
tions.  Presbyterianism  has  descended  in  the  same  line  as  the  property, 
but  it  must  not  be  understood  that  the  large  fortune  of  Mr.  W.  was  all 
inherited,  or  that  he  is  of  that  class  of  men  who  accept  their  creeds 
ready-made  from  their  ancestors.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  a  thorough 
man  of  business,  as  liberal  in  his  charities  as  thoughtfully  tolerant  in 
his  adhesion  to  his  sect.  In  association  with  him  is  the  famous  Napo 
leon  of  clothiers,  John  Wanamaker,  of  the  same  city.  Both  these 
persons  are  remarkable  in  the  same  way — men  whose  broad  views  and 
ceaseless  energies,  coupled  with  catholic  sympathies,  make  mere  sec 
tarianism  seem  impertinent,  and  exalt  our  conception  of  human  nature 
as  we  observe  their  philanthropic  activity  and  eminent  public  spirit. 

"  The  plan  of  this  sea-side  paradise,  this  New  Jerusalem  in  the  sand, 
as  well  as  the  public  improvements,  reflects  credit  upon  the  taste  and 
skill  of  Mr.  J.  C.  Sidney,  another  Philadelphian,  and  an  architect  of 
repute.  Under  his  superintendence,  backed  by  abundant  means,  the 
growth  of  this  place  has  been  exceedingly  rapid,  and  yet  substantial 
completeness  is  everywhere  evident. 

"  Under  the  favorable  laws  of  this  State  (New  Jersey),  the  regulations 
of  this  new  town  are  as  peculiar  as  the  old  Presbyterian  Blue  Laws 
of  Connecticut ;  in  fact,  they  smack  somewhat  of  their  character.  I 
should  hesitate  long  before  I  consented  to  such  laws  for  a  State  or  large 
city,  but  here,  and  now,  very  possibly  they  are  excellent ;  anyway,  those 
who  disapprove  can  go  to — Cape  May,  or  even  Long  Branch,  which  is 
worse. 

"  For  my  part  I  am  glad  to  get  to  a  place  where  rest  and  health  and 
personal  improvement  seem  really  to  be  the  object  of  those  around 
me.  I  am  rejoiced  to  be,  even  for  a  week,  where  my  eyes  are  not 
offended  by  the  emblazonry  with  which  the  rum  traffic  decorates  so 
many  fronts  in  town,  and  where  the  tippler  tippleth  not  and  the  drunk 
ard  cometh  not.  Continual  swearing  (in  others]  is  not  essential  to  my 
happiness,  while  slang  and  obscenity,  such  as  I  often  hear  in  some  re 
sorts,  make  me  crawl  all  over  with  disgust.  Sea  Grove  has  no  rum 
traffic — never  will  have  ;  it  has  no  scenes  of  riot,  and  moreover  is  clean 
and  decent  in  every  way.  I  don't  know  how  rigid  the  regulations  are, 
but  I  do  know  they  will  be  enforced,  whatever  they  may  be ;  and  that 
now  the  result  is  every  way  satisfactory  if  health  and  rest  are  really 
desired. 

"  It  seems  queer  to  see  the  people  of  a  hotel  convene  twice  a  day  for 
family  prayers,  where  various  clergymen  'address  the  throne  of  grace/ 
and  a  fine  quartette  like  this  of  the  Hayes  family  leads  the  singing; 
yet  such  is  the  fashion  here,  and  I,  wishing  to  be  in  style,  followed  the 
fashion.  I  cannot  detect  any  demoralization  in  myself  in  consequence 


92  SCHEYICHDI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

of  this  self-indulgence,  and  if  I  think  my  own  thoughts  the  while  prayer 
and  music  go  on,  I  do  not  think  I  am  surrounded  by  a  company  of 
mere  hypocrites  and  canting,  pretentious  formalists  !  I  am  sure  some 
people  I  know  would  be  surprised  to  learn  how  much  of  real  human 
goodness  unspoiled  there  is  in  all  the  churches.  The  danger  here  seems 
to  be  that  so  much  piety  and  propriety,  '  taken  straight,'  may  become 
dull  from  monotony,  and  so  efforts  have  been  made  to  avoid  sanctimo 
niousness.  A  very  distinguished  Presbyterian  divine  organized  a 
minstrel  troupe  from  the  kitchen  and  the  dining  room,  and  they  gave 
an  entertainment.  Then  last  evening  there  was  in  the  parlor  an  exhi 
bition  of  sleight-of-hand  by  '  Professor  Guernclla  and  lady.'  He  belongs 
to  the  assumed  exposers  of  Spiritualism,  and  I  have  to  say  that  he 
was  decent  in  his  remarks  and  clever  in  his  tricks,  but  his  imitation  was 
as  much  like  spirit  phenomena  as  the  pantomime  of  the  deaf  and  dumb 
is  like  the  eloquence  of  Wendell  Phillips;  and  so  as  before  the  facts  of 
Spiritualism  remain,  as  Guernclla  says,  to  '  puzzle  longer  heads  than 
mine.' 

"  To-day,  after  the  teachings  of  Guernclla,  that  '  we  should  attribute 
nothing  to  supernatural  causes  because  we  don't  understand  it,'  we  had 
a  sermon  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nevins  upon  the  stilling  of  the  sea  by 
Jesus.  He  took  occasion  to  inculcate 'muscular  Christianity,' saying 
salvation  was  incomplete  without  health,  and  that  Jesus  healed  the  sick. 
He  then  told  us  that  the  storm  on  Galilee  was  the  work  of  demoniacal 
spirits,  as  were  all  storms,  earthquakes,  and  other  destructive  outbreaks 
of  nature  !  It  was  cheap  science,  even  if  good  theology ;  anyhow,  it 
showed  Guernclla  had  not  effaced  the  idea  that  somehow  good  or  bad 
spirits  had  much  to  do  with  our  life  and  its  environment.  Nevins  is 
an  elderly  Presbyterian  minister.  To-night,  at  5  o'clock,  we  listen  to 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Stockton,  an  Episcopalian  of  reform  tendencies,  but  still 
in  full  communion.  From  conversation  with  him,  I  expect  liberal 
things." 

Disagreeing  radically  and  frankly  with  those  around  him,  the  writer 
of  the  above  states,  in  the  further  course  of  his  correspondence,  that 
candor  and  courtesy  were  the  only  concessions  made  by  him  in  frequent 
conversations  and  debates  with  both  laymen  and  ministers ;  and  yet  he 
declares  that  nowhere  was  he  ever  so  cheerfully  tolerated,  never  treated 
with  greater  kindness,  "  not  even  in  the  radical  Israel." 

§  Such  has  been  the  course  taken  by  the  Presbyterian  managers  of 
Sea  Grove,  and  such  is  the  concurrent  testimony  of  various  parties  as 
to  the  order,  morality,  and  liberal  tolerance  of  those  who  frequent  the 
place;  yet  there  resides  and  rules  the  same  Calvinism  which  was 
believed  in  by  the  Puritans,  who  sanctioned  the  death  of  dissenters  in 
'England  and  Massachusetts  a  few  generations  ago.  Since  then,  how 
much  of  growth  in  grace ! 

Divorced  from  the  entanglements  of  state  ecclesiasticism,  the  free 


CONCLUSION  OF  THE  HISTORIC  ARGUMENT,  93 

Presbyterian  Church,  like  other  Christian  organizations,  has  escaped 
from  potent  influences  of  corruption  and  gained  in  spiritual  life.  De 
livered  from  persecution,  endowed  with  freedom,  resting  secure,  that 
Church  has  outgrown  the  old-time  Puritan  arrogance,  intolerance,  and 
cruelty.  This  is  not  a  change  in  Calvinism,  but  it  is  progress  among 
men.  It  was  not  the  creed,  but  the  fears  of  the  Puritans,  which  made 
them  exclusive  and  prescriptive. 

The  progress  made  manifest  by  the  success  of  the  Presbyterians  in 
New  Jersey  has  been  shared  by  the  Episcopalians  of  Virginia  as  well, 
and  has  extended  to  every  Christian  denomination  in  our  country.  It 
is  the  fruit  of  religious  freedom,  of  security,  prosperity,  and  culture; 
the  expression  of  the  spirit  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  outgrowth 
of  the  republican  institutions  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

"Calvinism  ran  to  seed  in  Massachusetts,"  it  is  said;  its  thorns  it 
put  forth  in  Europe  in  defiance — a  defense  against  its  persecutors. 
After  two  hundred  years  of  tolerance  and  liberty,  it  blooms  at  Sea 
Grove;  the  humanities,  the  courtesies,  the  graces  of  life,  blossom  in 
beauty  on  the  same  rugged  stock  which  so  long  has  nourished  the 
sterner  virtues. 

Freedom  is  the  natural  basis  of  civilization,  progress,  and  a  true  life. 
Religion  needs  no  establishment  except  in  the  hearts  of  the  devout. 
The  only  legitimate  rule  is  the  law  of  equal  rights,  "a  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people" — "  never  to  perish  from 
the  earth." 

Such  are  our  conclusions.  Such  the  lesson  of  New  Jersey  and  Sea 
Grove;  the  historic  argument  of  SCHEYICHBI  AND  THE  STRAND. 


GEOLOGICAL    OUTLINES   AND    ITEMS. 


"A    FACT    IN    NATURE    IS   AN    ACT    OF    GOD." 


THE  COURSE  OF  NATURE  is  THE  ART  OF  GOD." 


YOUNG. 


CAPE  MAY  LIGHTHOUSE  is  at  the  southern  end  of  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  and.  according  to  the  United  States  Coast  Survey  Reports,  is  in 

38°  55'  50"  .42  north  lati 
tude,  and  in  74°  57'  15" 
.57  west  longitude;  high- 
water  mark  by  the  same 
observation  was  iiSS  feet 
due  south  of  it,  or  in  lati 
tude  38°  55'  39". 65  north, 
and  longitude  74°  57'  15" 
.57  west.  The  light  is  one 
hundred  and  sixty-seven 
and  three-eighths  miles 
from  the  northern  limit  of 
New  Jersey,  and  between 
Delaware  Bay  and  the  At 
lantic  Ocean.  Immediately 
west  is  located  the  settle 
ment  of  Sea  Grove,  includ 
ing  the  United  States  Signal 
Station  at  the  extreme  point 
of  Cape  May.  Both  the  light 
and  the  settlement,  as  well 

as  the  long-famous  resort  of  Cape  May  City,  and  the  country  thirty- 
two  miles  north,  are  included  in  Cape  May  County. 

Geologically,  this  county,  in  common  with  all  the  southern  portion 
of  the  State,  belongs  to  the  Tertiary  and  recent  formation  of  the  Ceno- 
zoic  period,  and  is  characterized  by  deposit,  drift,  and  alluvium.  The 
whole  county  is  very  low,  level,  and  uniform,  and,  in  the  absence  of  mines, 
quarries,  or  other  dceo  excavations,  geological  examinations  have  been 
94 


CAPE  MAY  I.ICIIT1K 


THE  ANCIENT  SHORES. 


95 


confined  to  the  surface,  and  the  deposit  to  the  depth  of  three  hundred 
and  thirty-five  feet  beneath  it.  The  best  opportunities  for  observations 
have  been  afforded  by  the  boring  of  several  artesian  wells  at  different 
points. 

§  Not  very  long  ago — as  time  is  counted  in  geology — the  ocean  shore 
of  Southern  New  Jersey  extended  from  Trenton,  on  the  Delaware,  to 
Woodbridge,  on  Staten  Island  Sound,  running  nearly  along  the  present 
railroad  from  Trenton  to  Metuchen,  Middlesex  County,  and  from  thence 
eastward  a  short  distance.  This  was  the  southern  limit  of  the  appear 
ance  of  the  red  sandstone  of  the  Triassic  formation.  All  the  land 
between  there  and  Cape  May,  to  a  depth  of  about  seven  hundred  and 
forty-two  feet,  in  the  Cretaceous  formation,  and  one  thousand  or  more 
deep  the  rest  of  the  distance,  has  been  "  made"  either  by  deposits  from 
the  sea  and  from  vegetable  growth,  or  by  "  drift"  and  wash  of  materials. 

The  Cretaceous  formation  extends  from  the  southern  line  of  the 
Triassic  southwardly  about  sixty  miles  along  the  Delaware  as  far  as 
Alloway's  Creek,  Salem  County,  and  from  thence  northeastwardly  to 
Shark  River  Inlet,  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  eight  miles  below  Long 
Branch.  Clayton  Station,  on  the  West  Jersey  Railroad  from  Philadel 
phia  to  Cape  May  City  and  Sea  Grove,  is  near  the  southern  border  of 
the  Cretaceous  formation. 

The  Tertiary  formation  covers  all  the  surface  of  Southern  New  Jersey 
south  of  the  line  from  Shark  River  Inlet  to  Alloway's  Creek,  except  a 
narrow  margin  of  recent  formation  along  the  shores.  Owing  to  the 
nature  of  their  materials,  and  the  agencies  which  have  operated  upon 
them  through  successive  ages,  it  is  very  difficult  to  definitely  outline 
the  field  of  these  two  formations.  The  Tertiary  overlies  the  Cretaceous 
in  the  north,  and  runs  irregularly  into  the  recent  formation  along  the 
shore. 

Beyond  the  Cretaceous,  to  the  north,  appears  the  Triassic  formation, 
composed  of  the  red  sandstones  and  others,  the  trap  and  conglomerate 
rocks. 

North  of  the  Triassic  rise  the  mountains  which  stretch  across  the 
State  of  New  Jersey  in  its  northwestern  portion.  These  mountains 
are  composed  of  gneiss  rocks  and  crystalline  limestone,  or  marble,  but 
mostly  of  gneiss ;  these  are  the  outcrop  of  the  metamorphic  rocks  of 
the  Azoic  time,  and  are  metamorphic,  igneous,  or  primitive  in  character, 
— that  is  to  say,  they  are  geologically  the  most  ancient  rocks,  and  owe 
their  character  to  the  action  of  fire.  The  valleys  among  these  mount 
ains  are  limestone  localities,  and  all  the  territory  of  New  Jersey  beyond 
•the  mountains  to  the  northwest  is  a  limestone  region,  and  of  the  Paleozoic 
division  of  geologic  structure  and  time. 

§  It  being  known  that  the  metamorphic  rocks  of  the  Azoic  period  are 
primitive,  igneous,  or  Plutonic  rocks,  it  is  understood  that  they  are  the 
oldest,  and,  if  retained  in  place,  would  be  the  deepest  buried,  of  all  the 


96  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

strata,  lying  as  an  ever-shrinking  shell  of  granite  upon  the  fiery  lava 
which  forms  the  liquid  pulpy  heart  of  the  globe.  All  the  strata,  were 
they  "  in  place,"  would  be  piled  one  on  another  above  this  heated  granite 
floor.  First  would  come  the  Azoic  or  Metamorphic  rocks;  then  the 
Silurian,  Devonian,  Carboniferous,  Permean,  Triassic,  Jurassic,  Creta 
ceous,  Tertiary,  Post-Tertiary;  and  last  and  uppermost  of  all,  the 
Recent  formations. 

This  would  place  Southern  New  Jersey  geologically  where  some  of 
its  residents  declare  it  is  to  be  found  in  every  respect, — "  at  the  top  of 
the  heap;"  but,  since  the  central  fire  of  the  planet  first  began  to  cool, 
and  islands  of  red-hot  stone  floated  upon  the  incandescent  ocean,  there 
has  been  many  a  commotion  and  violent  shaking-up  of  things  in  this 
world,  and  geologists  are  not  the  only  people  who,  in  order  to  learn 
the  truth,  are  compelled  to  follow  with  painstaking  care  the  clue  of  fact 
through  what  seems  a  labyrinth  of  confusion  before  they  catch  a  view 
of  the  system  of  nature,  comprehend  in  part  the  laws  of  the  universe, 
and  realize  with  reverence  the  glory  of  the  Infinite  God  ! 

The  geologic  strata  are  first  formed,  and  then  upheaved  or  depressed, 
crushed,  crumpled,  and  distorted,  disintegrated,  mixed,  and  distributed, 
in  a  thousand  ways  and  positions,  by  the  action  of  known  but  incon 
ceivable  forces.  The  shrinkage  of  the  earth's  crust  crowds  up  enormous 
ridges  of  granite  or  other  rocks,  which  in  cragged  wedges  slowly  pierce 
upwards  through  the  superincumbent  mass,  or  else  the  crash  of  earth 
quake  explosions  produces  effects  in  a  few  moments  otherwise  the  work 
of  ages.  The  variations  of  condition  and  character  thus  introduced  in 
the  geologic  elements  by  the  causes  described  create  an  appearance  of 
utter  confusion  bewildering  to  the  uninformed  and  heedless.  It  seems 
to  the  superficial  observer  that  the  rocks  and  earths,  the  sands  and  the 
soils,  are  jumbled  together  without  sequence  or  significance,  and  such 
persons,  if  induced  to  consider  the  subject  at  all,  are  inclined  to  surren 
der  the  use  of  their  senses  and  reason,  and  atone  for  their  imbecility  and 
unfaithfulness  by  the  acceptance  of  some  superstitious,  heathenish,  and 
wicked  pretension  of  a  revealed  Cosmogony.  Thus  they  give  up  the 
study,  appalled  by  the  difficulties  which  surround  it,  content  to  know 
no  more  scientifically  of  the  wondrous  world  they  mysteriously  inhabit 
than  did  the  saurian  reptiles  whose  fossil  remains  enrich  the  marl  beds 
and  banks  of  fossil  shells.  Such  a  course  is  blindly  impious,  and  dis 
graceful  to  human  nature. 

It  is  true  the  Bible  asserts  that  God  made  the  world,  but  it  gives 
only  the  most  exceeding  vague  intimation  as  to  how  or  when  the 
Creation  announced  was  effected ;  whatever  may  or  may  not  be  re 
vealed  in  spiritual  things,  we  are  left  to  study  geology  hammer  in  hand, 
knocking  hard  at  the  rocky  doors  of  science.  Yet  we  need  not  be  dis 
couraged  nor  afraid;  the  difficult  is  not  of  necessity  impossible,  and 
although  geology  is  an  infant  science  compared  to  astronomy  and 


SCIENCE  AND    TRUTH.  97 

mathematics,  and  only  a  child  beside  even  chemistry,  yet  the  clue  has 
been  discovered,  the  system  made  plain,  and  only  diligence  and  cour 
age  are  required  for  the  conquests  of  the  future.  The  practical  eco 
nomic  value  of  geology  is  immense,  and  besides,  it  must  ever  be  a  high 
gratification  to  read  in  the  record  of  the  rocks  the  history  of  the  evo 
lution  and  progressive  development  of  our  home,  the  earth. 

There  is  no  danger  the  facts  of  Geology  can  annul,  or  even  obscure, 
the  truth  of  religion.  Men  of  science  are  not  always  scientific,  but 
while  we  trace  the  process  by  which  that  which  is  has  been  brought 
about,  it  need  not  be  that  we  become  process  mad,  and  unable  to  see 
in  and  behind  the  unfolding  the  INFINITE  SPIRIT,  which  movos  in  the 
wheels  of  existence.  Here,  are  phenomena  ;  there,  is  law,  process,  and 
evolution;  THE  SPIRIT  is  everywhere,  all  in  all.  There  is  no  pebble  so 
small  but  law  constrains  it,  no  material  so  inert  but  evolution  compels 
its  progress;  the  smallest  grain  of  sand  has  being  in  an  infinite  order; 
omnipotence  overtops  the  loftiest  crag,  underlies  the  deepest  primitive 
strata,  and  sustains  the  central  fire.  Facts  cannot  disprove  TRUTH  ;  the 
idea  of  God  science  can  displace  from  the  minds  of  candid  and  tho 
rough  students  is  but  the  myth  of  morbid  imagination,  the  shadow  of 
the  fetich  of  barbarian  ignorance. 

§  New  Jersey  contains  the  out-crops  of  all  the  geologic  formations 
except,  unfortunately,  the  carboniferous.  In  the  absence  of  the  coal- 
bearing  strata  there  are,  however,  other  rich  and  rare  mines  and  de 
posits  in  the  State,  notably  those  of  zinc ;  as  well  as  an  abundance  of 
iron,  of  lime,  of  valuable  clays,  of  building  materials,  and  natural  fer 
tilizers.  The  remarkable  geologic  characteristics  which  have  marked 
the  region,  are  the  evident  recurrent  upliftings  and  subsidences  of  a 
large  part  of  the  surface,  and  the  effects  of  denudation  and  drift. 

The  Cretaceous  formation  of  New  Jersey,  which  with  the  Tertiary 
covers  the  whole  southern  part  of  the  State,  was  once  the  bottom  of  a 
shallow  and  quiet  ocean  ;  it  is  evident  from  its  stratification  that  the 
surface  of  the  land  rose  and  fell  with  comparative  regularity,  so  that 
the  sea  would  advance  at  times  and  cover  it,  and  then  the  bottom 
would  be  uplifted  and  the  sea  recede.  Vegetation  would  start  up  upon 
the  marshes  and  upland,  which  would  after  a  time  by  subsidence  of 
the  land  be  overwhelmed  in  the  waves,  and  then  buried  by  degrees  in 
the  sea  sediment. 

In  proof  of  all  this,  the  immense  quantities  of  fossil  shells  in  this 
formation  are  found  unbroken,  and  the  bones  of  reptiles  lying  together 
undisturbed  near  where  they  lived  and  died;  this  would  not  be  the 
case  if  the  sea  which  covered  them  had  been  turbulent  and  stormy. 
That  marine  shells  and  sea  sediments  are  found  both  above  and  below 
various  beds  or  layers  of  vegetable  fossils  and  the  bones  of  land  rep 
tiles  shows  that  alternately  the  land  was  submerged,  and  then  for  an 
age  emerged  from  the  waters.  Yet  all  this  time  the  land  must  have 


98  SCHEYICHDI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

been  subsiding  on  the  whole ;  for  a  regular  stratified  formation  some 
eight  hundred  feet  thick  was  thus  aggregated,  and  the  topmost  layer 
of  shells  was  of  course- under  the  tide  when  it  grew.  This  subsidence 
was  followed  by  an  elevation  of  the  whole  coast  to  about  four  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  which  was  effected  bodily;  but  the  up 
lift  seems  to  have  been  greatest  in  the  northwest,  so  that  the  strata 
slope  or  "  dip"  toward  the  southeast  at  present.  This  upheaval  was 
before  the  "  drift  period."  When  it  came,  the  process  of  denudation 
reduced  the  land  to  nearly  its  present  level  and  configuration. 

The  name  of  the  Cretaceous  formation  is  derived  from  England,  and 
is  significant  of  the  great  amount  of  chalk  which  characterizes  it.  The 
constituents  of  the  formation  in  New  Jersey  are  all  earthy,  except 
where  in  a  few  detached  spots  the  material  has  become  cemented  by 
oxide  of  iron  into  a  kind  of  sandstone  or  conglomerate.  The  strata 
are  the  upper  marl  bed,  the  yellow  sand  ;  the  middle  marl  bed,  the 
red  sand  ;  the  lower  marl  bed,  clay  marls,  and  plastic  clay.  These 
last  are  of  fresh-water  origin,  and  are  supposed  to  have  originated  from 
the  decomposition  of  gneiss  rock  ;  they  are  the  underlying  strata  when 
in  place,  but  in  actual  situation  crop  out  on  the  surface  on  the  northern 
edge  of  the  formation  at  Woodbridge,  Perth  Amboy,  South  Amboy, 
Washington,  and  Trenton ;  they  are  also  used  as  potters'  clay  at  sev 
eral  other  places. 

The  other  strata  came  to  the  surface  one  after  another  as  distance 
increases  towards  the  south,  until  at  the  commencement  of  the  Tertiary 
formation  the  upper  marl  beds  appear  while  the  other  strata  are  mostly 
subterranean. 

Next  to  the  evidences  of  denudation  and  drift  presented  by  the  sur 
face  of  the  Cretaceous  district,  the  vast  quantities  of  fossil  shells  and 
bones  are  remarkable.  The  shells  of  the  clay  beds  are  of  fresh-water 
origin  (such  as  the  genus  Unio,  as  fresh-water  mussel  and  others), 
and  may  have  grown  at  the  bottom  of  lakes  before  the  subsidence, 
or  the  fresh  water  may  have  been  kept  from  the  sea  by  hills  and  ridges. 
The  green  sand  which  abounds  in  the  Cretaceous  formation  is  sup 
posed  to  have  become  granulated  by  forming  inside  very  small  shells, 
and  is  of  chemical  origin,  and  evidently  a  deposit  from  salt  water,  as 
the  vast  amount  of  fossil  marine  shells  contained  in  it  demonstrates. 

One  species  of  these  shells,  the  Terebatnla  Harlani,  forms  a  layer 
ninety  miles  long,  over  a  mile  wide,  and  about  a  yard  in  thickness  in 
the  middle  marl  bed.  This  layer  is  made  up  almost  entirely  of  this 
species  of  shell,  closely  packed  together.  Immediately  beneath  the 
Tercbatula  Harlani  shell  layer  is  another  equally  large,  made  up  of 
shells  of  the  Pycnodonta  convcxa.  Many  other  kinds  of  shells  exist  in 
great  quantities  in  the  Cretaceous  formation  at  various  places.  Of 
these  over  three  hundred  varieties  have  been  classified  and  described, 
with  no  certainty  that  the  work  is  complete.  In  some  marl  beds  a 


FIRST  USE   OF   THE  MARL.  99 

dozen  or  twenty  varieties  might  be  found  in  comparatively  small  space, 
and  then  again,  as  before  described,  beds  of  one  kind  of  shells,  a  mile 
wide  and  several  feet  thick,  are  scores  of  miles  in  length. 

The  plastic  clays  of  the  Cretaceous  formation  of  New  Jersey  are 
highly  valuable  to  the  potter  and  to  the  maker  of  fire-brick ;  the  com 
mon  clays  are  useful  too  for  ordinary  brick-making ;  the  gneiss  of  the 
Azoic  formation,  and  the  red  sandstone  or  "  brown  stone"  of  the 
Triassic  strata,  and,  very  generally,  the  various  colored  limestones  of 
the  Paleozoic  district  of  the  State,  are  used  in  building  ;  the  brown  sand 
stone  of  southern  New  Jersey  serves  the  same  purpose.  The  Triassic 
trap  rock  and  sandstone  is  used  in  paving,  and  its  slates  for  roofing. 
Iron  and  zinc  mines  are  very  rich  in  New  Jersey,  the  iron  produced 
being  of  the  best ;  the  zinc  ore  is  generally  rare  elsewhere,  yet  ten 
years  ago  twenty-five  thousand  tons  of  it  were  dug  yearly  in  Sussex 
County.  This  ore  yielded  seven  thousand  tons  of  "zinc  white,"  and 
five  hundred  tons  of  metallic  zinc;  this  was  seven-tenths  of  all  the  zinc 
white  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  and  about  one-fourth  of  all 
the  spelter  produced.  Yet  it  is  probable  the  marl  beds  of  the  Creta 
ceous  formation,  used  alone  as  fertilizers,  or  in  combination  with  its 
shell  and  stone  lime,  and  the  muck  and  peats  of  the  region,  are  or 
might  be  made  worth  more  than  all  the  quarries  and  mines  within  the 
Commonwealth. 

The  green  sand  marl  was  first  used  as  a  fertilizer,  in  Monmouth 
County,  in  1768,  when  "an  Irishman"  ditching  for  Peter  Schenck 
"  threw  out  a  substance  he  called  '  marl.1  "  It  was  spread  over  an  acre 
and  a  half  of  land,  where  its  good  effects  were  visible  for  many  years; 
"  but,"  says  the  record,  "  this  circumstance  attracted  no  particular 
notice  until  1811,  when  the  farm  came  into  the  possession  of  John  H. 
Smock ;"  then  notice  was  taken  of  the  effect  of  the  marl,  and  the  use 
of  it  began  in  the  neighborhood.  It  had  been  used  somewhat  at  that 
time  in  other  places,  but  at  no  place  in  this  country  was  the  use  of 
marl  general  before  the  present  century  began. 

The  discovery  and  use  of  the  marl  have  raised  thousands  of  acres  of 
lands  from  sheer  barrenness  to  remarkable  fertility ;  worn-out  farms, 
where  a  family  could  not  be  supported,  are  now  making  their  culti 
vators  rich  by  their  productiveness.  Bare  sands  are  made  to  grow 
clover,  and  then  crops  of  corn,  potatoes,  and  wheat.  "  Pine  barrens," 
by  the  use  of  marl,  have  been  made  into  fruitful  lands,  and  thus  whole 
districts  have  been  saved  from  depopulation,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
others  increased. 

Fifty-five  years  ago  the  six  southern  counties  of  New  Jersey  were 
described  by  Morse  as  four-fifths  waste  and  barren  land;  this  consti 
tuted  two-fifths  of  the  entire  State:  now,  large  portions  of  this  desert 
are  under  high  and  profitable  culture,  and  the  land  in  farms  in  the  six 
southern  counties  is  worth  an  average  of  over  fifty  dollars  an  acre. 


I0o  SCHEYICHDI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

The  Irishman  who  spread  the  first  marl  in  New  Jersey  deserved  more 
honor  than  many  a  conquering  warrior ;  a  monument  erected  to  his 
memory  would  be  more  in  keeping  than  to  have  him  referred  to  in  the 
State  Geologist's  Report  merely  as  "an  Irishman  !" 

In  the  marl-beds  of  the  Cretaceous  formation  are  abundant  and 
extraordinary  remains  of  extinct  reptiles.  They  were  of  the  orders 
THECODONTIA,  SAUROPTERYGIA,  TESTUDINATA,  CROCODILIA,  and  DINO 
SAURS.  A  fine  specimen  of  the  last  order  is  preserved  in  the  Museum 
of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  at  Philadelphia,  and  is  classified 
as  the  Hadrosaums  Foulkii.  It  was  a  gigantic  reptile,  about  twenty- 
eight  feet  long.  The  hind  legs  were  very  long,  more  than  double  the 
length  of  the  fore  limbs.  The  reptile  walked  on  his  hind  legs  as  a 
man  uses  his  legs,  and  ate  foliage  and  vegetable  food.  It  was  a  heavy 
unwieldy  monster,  living  on  land  or  in  the  marshes. 

There  were  carnivorous  reptiles  also,  some  of  them  forty  feet  long, 
some  only  about  twenty-five  feet  long,  with  a  body  as  large  round  as 
an  ox,  and  a  long  neck.  These  steered  themselves  by  flippers  like 
those  of  a  whale,  and  propelled  themselves  by  their  tails.  Some  of 
them  had  flattened  tails,  and  sculled  themselves  along  as  a  boatman 
uses  a  single  oar ;  some  of  them  had  great  conical  teeth  :  they  ate  fish 
probably;  such  were  the  Cimoliasaurus,  the  Elasmosaurus,  the  Mosa- 
saurus,  and  the  Clidastes;  the  last,  however,  was  more  serpent-like, 
and  fifteen  feet  long. 

There  have  been  more  than  twenty  kinds  of  Tortoises,  Turtles,  or 
Terrapin  found.  One  of  them,  the  Euclastcs,  was  full  six  feet  long,  and 
very  strongly  constructed.  Others  were  as  large,  and  some  had  ex 
ceedingly  thick  shells,  notably  the  Adociis  Pctrosus  and  Adocus  Firmus. 
The  Crocodiles,  Alligators,  and  Gavials  were  very  numerous ;  three- 
fourths  of  the  bones  found  are  of  this  order,  and  the  wonder  is  what 
such  swarms  of  them  lived  on,  as  they  have  left  no  remains  of  their 
feasts  to  tell  the  story  so  far  as  yet  seen.  These  horrid  brutes  were 
twenty  feet  long  in  some  cases,  but  they  varied  in  size,  some  being 
four  feet  long  only. 

The  Dinosauria,  of  which  order  is  the  Hadrosaurus  Foulkii,  were  the 
highest  order  of  reptiles,  and  in  some  characteristics  resembled  birds. 
Many  of  them  were  as  large  as  Mastodons  and  Elephants.  Some  of 
them  squatted;  some  jumped  like  the  Kangaroo;  some,  with  great 
long  legs,  stalked  around  flopping  their  half-useless  arms,  and  over 
looking  the  levels  with  bird-like  eyes  set  in  a  "  bony  visage,"  as  if  their 
face  was  trying  to  become  a  beak ! 

Such  were  the  monsters  of  the  Cretaceous  land,  such  the  shells  once 
alive,  when  it  was  under  the  sea.  These  reptiles,  and  the  vegetable 
remains  in  conjunction  with  them,  indicate  a  torrid  climate;  but  the 
bones  of  Walrus  have  been  found  in  the  neighborhood  of  Long  Branch, 
and  it  is  otherwise  evident  that  their  long  summer  was,  in  the  "  drift 


DENUDATION  AND   DRIFT.  IOI 

period,"  turned,  and  perhaps  suddenly,  too,  into  an  equally  long  and 
appalling  winter. 

§  The  phenomenal  effects  of  Denudation  and  Drift  are  not  confined  to 
any  geologic  formation  or  geographic  locality,  but  may  be  observed 
throughout  many  extensive  sections,  and  indicate  the  force  of  several 
agents  acting  at  separate  times  upon  diversified  materials  in  different 
directions,  and  by  various  modes  and  in  distinct  degrees.  These  agents 
are  evidently  three, — wind,  water,  and  ice, — and  the  mode  of  action  by 
each  is  unlike.  Exposure  to  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  the  effects  of  cold 
and  frost  disintegrates  the  rocks  and  subjects  them  to  the  effect  of  drift- 
creating  forces.  The  common  variations  of  climate  and  season  are 
efficient  in  this  respect,  but  special  causes  in  different  ages  have  vastly 
intensified  the  influences  of  temperature  and  weather. 

The  influence  of  wind  and  of  water  is  constant ;  but  the  vast  effects 
of  the  ice-drift  are  referable  to  the  geologic  "  Drift  Period."  The  force 
of  wind  is  active  not  alone  in  wearing  away  rocks,  by  whirling  grit  and 
transporting  great  quantities  of  sand,  and  building  dunes  and  beaches 
along  low  shores,  but  in  some  places  it  wafts  the  sands  of  shores  and 
deserts  far  over  fertile  fields  and  even  forest  hills,  thus  sadly  increasing 
the  area  of  sterility.  In  the  African  deserts  the  awful  simoom  blights 
vegetable  growth  and  suffocates  animals  and  men,  then  lets  fall  over 
the  dead  caravan  thick  layers  and  hills  of  sand  for  their  winding-sheet 
and  grave. 

On  the  Western  American  plains,  and  among  the  mountains  of  that 
region,  the  winds  have  cut  countless  cavities  into  solid  stone  ;  these 
cuttings  vary  from  small  orifices  and  hollows  to  large  channels  and 
openings;  in  fact,  in  some  localities  the  most  of  the  strata  has  been 
worn  away,  and  only  small  isolated  elevations  of  fantastic  form  remain 
to  denote  the  former  level  of  the  surrounding  territory.  On  loose  sand 
the  operation  of  wind  is  obvious  :  the  finer  earth  and  dust  is  lifted  and 
bodily  conveyed  to  a  distance  in  proportion  to  the  strength  of  the  blast, 
while  the  coarser  sand  and  gravel  is  rolled,  slid,  and  drifted  along  the 
surface,  often  up  steep  inclines  and  considerable  elevations. 

As  a  gale  grows  in  violence,  the  power  of  wind  increases  in  the  same 
degree  to  an  unknown  limit:  typhoons  and  cyclones  exhibit  its  force 
in  Indian  seas,  the  West  Indies  are  often  devastated  by  hurricanes,  and 
in  portions  of  the  United  States  whirlwinds  and  tornadoes  sometimes 
level  giant  forests  in  their  path,  demolish  strong  buildings,  and  hurl  the 
ruins  far  through  the  air.  A  hurricane  in  the  West  Indies  broke  down 
a  very  heavy  wall,  and  rolled  stones  weighing  hundreds  of  pounds  along 
the  ground ! 

By  forcing  a  blast  of  air  through  a  nozzle,  and  charging  it  with  sand, 
made  to  impinge  upon  flint  glass,  artisans  abrade,  cut,  grind,  and  en 
grave  the  glass  most  rapidly.  In  a  similar  way,  the  wind,  forcing  itself 
through  rocky  canyons,  notches,  passes,  defiles,  fissures,  and  crevices 


102  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

among  the  mountains,  and  sweeping  over  rainless  plains,  takes  up  the 
gritty  debris  and  sharp  sand  and,  whirling  them  along,  drives  them  in 
an  enormous  rotating  sand-blast  against  the  rocks.  Gneiss  and  adamant 
could  not  resist  the  impact  and  continued  friction. 

The  effects  of  water  and  ice  in  the  Drift  Period  have  been  closely 
studied  and  elaborately  stated  by  the  geologists,  but  it  is  possible  the 
effects  of  winds  have  not  been  as  fully  observed  and  noted.  By  some 
commentators  it  is  supposed  that  the  destruction  of'  the  Assyrians 
(II.  Kings,  35)  was  accomplished  through  the  agency  of  a  simoom, 
which  certainly  would  be  a  sufficient  natural  cause  for  the  death  of 
even  that  host.  However  it  may  have  been  in  this  case,  there  is  evi 
dence  throughout  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  but 
not  confined  to  the  Bible  or  any  book,  of  the  power  of  spiritual  beings 
who,  under  Providence,  use  the  forces  of  nature  as  their  instruments  to 
do  the  will  of  Heaven.  No  marvelous  work  is  belittled  or  made  less 
wonderful  because  we  are  enabled  to  discern  the  agencies  and  the 
method  by  and  through  which  the  Eternal  Power  is  made  manifest. 

The  evidence  of  the  former  submergence  of  vast  areas  which  are  now 
the  elevated  portions  of  continents,  and  of  tremendous  floods  which 
have  deluged  the  surface  since  it  has  been  uplifted,  appears  almost 
everywhere,  and  seems  to  be  amply  convincing:  tyapniion  among 
savages,  and  the  poems  and  mythological  records  of  (fumy  races,  refer 
to  such  phenomena,  ascribing  them  generally  to  the  action  of  the  gods. 
The  Bible  account  of  the  deluge,  it  is  thought  by  some,  fcnds  corrobo- 
ration  in  these  legends  and  poetical  allegories  of  antiquity.  Certain  it 
is  that  water,  in  showers,  floods,  and  oceans,  has  been  the  potent  cause 
of  distribution  and  change  in  geologic  materials.  When  porous  stones 
are  exposed  to  rain  and  severe  frost,  they  rapidly  disorganize :  the 
water  penetrates  the  pores  of  the  stone  and  is  frozen  there,  the  expan 
sion  of  water  changing  to  ice  bursts  the  cells  of  the  stone  by  the  exertion 
of  one  of  the  most  potent  natural  forces,  and  the  rock  soon  crumbles 
from  the  effect  of  such  weathering.  Some  rocks,  when  submerged  or 
long  subjected  to  the  action  of  water,  become  "  rotten  stone,"  the 
cementing  material  in  their  composition  being  oxidized  or  dissolved 
away.  In  turbulent  torrents  the  stones  are  dashed  against  each  other 
and  broken,  they  are  ground  together  and  pulverized,  and,  after  tritura- 
tion,  are  borne  away  to  form  the  sediment  of  quieter  waters.  Thus  the 
winds,  the  rains,  the  streams,  and  the  waves  co-operate,  and  through 
their  action,  in  time,  the  rocky  mountains  are  reduced  to  a  bed  of  sand, 
to  be  drifted  about  by  every  flood  or  borne  away  before  the  wind. 

The  influence  of  changing  weather  and  seasons  is  incessant:  every 
warm  day,  every  wandering  wind,  every  passing  shower,  is  active  in 
changing  the  surface  of  the  earth,  while  geologic  indications  prove  that 
not  only  have  icy  oceans  rolled  over  what  are  now  the  mountain-tops 
of  temperate  climes,  but  glacier-like  formations  of  ice,  during  the  winter 


THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  DRIFT.  IO3 

ages,  crept  down  from  the  pole,  submerging  the  life  of  the  zone  beneath 
a  curtain  of  frozen  death.  Gripping  immense  boulders  of  flinty  rock  in 
their  icy  flow,  the  frigid  seas  dragged  them  for  hundreds  of  miles,  firm 
fixed  in  the  icebergs  as  a  glazier's  diamond  in  steel.  Grinding  heavily 
on  the  bottom  of  shallow  seas,  these  enormous  tools  in  the  hands  of 
Nature  have  scratched  and  scored  the  granite  mountains,  the  trap 
dikes,  and  the  various  ridges,  until  they  have,  in  some  cases,  been 
utterly  worn  away  under  the  long-continued  and  terrific  abrasion  and 
their  debris  scattered  far  and  wide.  From  astronomical  causes  diver 
gences  are  supposed  to  occur  in  the  polarities  of  the  earth,  producing 
excessive  and  sudden  but  persistent  changes  in  climate,  or,  as  is  known, 
comparatively  slight  deflections  of  constant  winds  and  currents  grad 
ually  bring  about  the  same  result.  In  the  far  north  mastodons  by 
thousands  are  to  be  found  imbedded  in  ice,  where  and  as  they  stood 
when  the  torrid  climate  congenial  to  them  passed  away  at  once,  and 
paralyzing  frost  and  overwhelming  snow  descending  upon  them  estab 
lished  most  abruptly  the  conditions  of  Arctic  winter. 

§The  Drift  of  New  Jersey  indicates  not  only  a  grand  movement  of 
the  agencies  of  denudation  from  the  northwest,  but  counter,  or  rather 
divergent,  currents  of  a  similar  nature,  due  to  local  elevations  or  other 
secondary  causes  ;  the  main  line  of  advance  however  being  toward  the 
southeast.  • 

The  Paleozoic  formation  to  the  northwest  of  the  mountains  was  of 
course  the  first  affected  by  the  southward  tending  drift.  The  amount 
of  material  displaced  is  almost  incredible.  One  body  of  drift  in  the 
Paleozoic  district  is  one  hundred  miles  or  more  long,  from  ten  to  fifty 
miles  wide,  and  two  to  three  thousand  feet  in  depth. 

The  drift  action  in  the  Azoic  formation  has  also  been  immense,  and 
the  evidence  of  it  is  to  be  seen  not  only  among  the  gneiss-crowned 
mountains,  but  all  over  the  State,  as  the  disintegrated  granite  appears 
everywhere  in  almost  every  foot  of  gravel  bed.  On  the  lower  margin 
or  southern  border  of  the  Triassic  formation  a  belt  of  gneiss  rock  is 
exposed  ;  this  was  drift  from  Azoic  outcrops  in  the  mountains,  and  has 
aggregated  in  its  present  place  and  concreted  into  stone,  and  then  again 
has  been  in  part  abraded,  disintegrated,  and  carried  away.  The  most 
common  soil  of  the  Azoic  formation  is  drift,  deposited  among  the 
gneiss  rocks  and  mountain  ranges.  There  are  limestone  boulders  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  gneiss  which  weigh  two  thousand  tons  each, 
and  which  have  drifted  a  mile  at  least,  and  perhaps  several  miles,  and 
have  been  lifted  one  or  two  hundred  feet.  On  Sparta  mountain,  twelve 
hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  are  found  boulders  which  weigh  a  hundred 
tons,  which  have  been  carried  there  from  an  unknown  distance.  Boul 
ders  of  ore  have  been  carried  into  distant  deposits  far  from  the  original 
strata,  and  have  misled  those  who  found  them  into  the  idea  that  they 
were  indications  of  mines  in  the  place  where  they  were  discovered. 


104 


SCHEYICHDI  AND    THE  STRAND. 


It  is  in  the  Triassic  formation,  however,  that  the  greatest  signs  of 
drift  action  appear;  there  the  red  sandstone  has  in  many  places  been 
worn  away  from  two  to  five  hundred  feet.  The  Newark  marshes  have 
been  dug  out  by  drift  action,  and  the  excavation  was  carried  below  the 
level  of  the  sea,  resulting  in  bays  now  but  partly  filled  by  mud,  grass, 
roots,  etc.,  etc.  Boulders  of  various  kinds  appear  in  this  formation. 
There  is  a  boulder  of  five  hundred  tons'  weight  on  the  northwest  slope 
of  First  Mountain,  near  the  Newark  and  Mount  Pleasant  turnpike, 
which  has  been  carried  by  the  drift  current  full  thirteen  miles.  There 
is  another  boulder  near  Woodbridge,  more  than  twenty  miles  from  its 
parent  strata,  which  must  weigh  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons.  There 
are  trap  and  sandstone  boulders  everywhere  in  the  Triassic  formation, 
and  considerable  deposits  of  limestone  in  loose  masses.  Paleozoic  fos 
sils  are  also  found  scattered  with  the  drift  into  Triassic  beds. 

The  Cretaceous  formation  has  been  worn  away  and  changed  by  denu 
dation  nearly  as  much  as  the  Triassic  strata;  Naversink  Highlands, 
and  the  Mount  Pleasant  Hills  of  Monmouth  County,  have  perfect  sea 
shore  pebbles  upon  their  summits  ;  yet  they  are  about  four  hundred  feet 
high,  their  valleys  being  one  hundred  feet  above  the  sea-level.  In  the 
Cretaceous  beds  and  layers,  the  forces  of  the  drift  encountered  only 
friable  materials,  as  the  stratification  was  comparatively  recent,  and  the 
elevation  referred  to  in  a  former  page  still  later;  hence,  when  these 
forces  became  active  among  the  shell  layers  and  the  loose^sands  which 
had  been  imported  from  other  formations  and  not  concreted,  the  uni 
form  surface  of  the  uplifted  land  was  worn  into  valleys,  or  washed  away 
entirely  for  large  areas,  to  (he  depth  of  three  or  four  hundred  feet. 

Thus  were  created  the  broad  low  plains  now  visible  in  South  Jersey, 
and  the  low  hills  with  their  shallow  valleys  between  them,  which  there 
mark  the  Cretaceous  area.  The  sides  of  these  hills,  and  the  bottoms  of 
the  valleys,  afford  excellent  opportunities  for  geologic  observation. 
The  sand,  loam,  and  general  mass  of  material  dislodged,  was  carried 
away  toward  the  south.  The  drift  action  continued  a  long  time,  and 
thus  were  the  abraded  constituents  of  all  the  strata  to  the  north  mkxed 
with  the  materials  of  the  Cretaceous  sediment,  swept  out  to  sea  and 
deposited  there,  creating  the  Tertiary  formation. 

That  extensive  areas  should  rise  and  fall,  and  even  "  the  sit-fast  and 
immovable  hills"  appear  and  disappear,  grow  and  waste  away,  seems 
incredible  to  the  untaught,  and  is  wonderful  to  all ;  and  yet  in  geologic 
ages  continents  emerge  from  the  sea  and  then  sink  again  beneath  the 
ocean  ;  Himalayas,  Alps,  Andes,  and  Sierras  swell  aloft  by  the  action 
of  geologic  forces,  and  then  subside  into  the  subterranean,  or  are  sculp 
tured  into  picturesque  forms  and  worn  away  by  denudation. 

Geology  gives  time  ;  and  in  time,  the  sun,  the  rain,  the  wind,  and  the 
frost,  as  has  been  demonstrated,  will  humble  the  head  of  the  highest 
mountain  that  lifts  its  granite  top  above  the  clouds!  Then  again  by 


THE  EARLIEST  LIFE  ON  EARTH. 


105 


sudden  or  by  gradual  shiftings  of  the  balance  and  polarities  of  the  earth, 
tremendous  and  sometimes  abrupt  changes  of  climate  have  been  in 
duced,  and  vast  floods  and  moving  fields  of  ice  have  been  the  conse 
quence.  These  awful  forces,  in  time,  work  out  the  grandest  results  and 
most  radical  changes. 

The  whole  solid  crust  of  the  earth,  moreover,  is  no  thicker  in  com 
parison  to  its  liquid,  fiery  mass  than  the  shell  of  an  egg  to  its  contents ; 
therefore  any  changes  of  the  surface  are  not  unnatural,  or,  in  view  of  the 
facts,  a  matter  of  amazement.  The  perpetual  miracle  and  admirable 
wonder  is  that,  with  such  forces  always  in  action  in  some  form,  the  uni 
versal  equipoise  is  maintained,  and  the  conditions  of  human  life  and 
happiness  evolved,  with  Infinite  wisdom,  from  the  perturbations  of 
nature  ! 

§  Formerly,  the  names  of  Primitive,  Transition,  Secondary,  and 
Tertiary,  were  applied  to  various  kinds  of  rocks,  in  geological  classifi 
cation  ;  modern  usage  substitutes  the  technical  terms  of  Azoic,  Paleo 
zoic,  Mesozoic,  and  Cenozoic,  to  define  periods  marked  by  peculiar 
stratifications  and  fossils.  The  rocks  themselves  are  now  called  Meta- 
morphic,  Silurian,  Devonian,  Carboniferous,  Permian,  Triassic,  Jurassic, 
Cretaceous,  and  Tertiary;  the  last  significator  being  retained  and 
adopted  from  the  old  terminology;  besides,  the  phrase  Post  Tertiary  is 
used,  meaning  since  the  Tertiary. 

The  rocks  are  named  with  regard  to  their  constituents  and  character, 
or  derive  their  titles  from  geographic  localities  where  they  especially 
abound,  or  where  they  were  first  scientifically  observed.  The  Azoic 
rocks  are  supposed  to  have  been  formed  before  vegetable  or  animal  life 
existed  on  this  planet,  and  until  the  last  few  years  it  was  supposed  that 
no  form  of  life  was  known  below  the  lower  Silurian  rocks,  that  is  to 
say,  in  Azoic  time,  before  the  Paleozoic  period.  American  geologists 
are  disposed  to  admit  that  the  recently  investigated  "eozoon"  found 
below  the  Silurian  is  the  fossil  of  an  animal  form  ;  if  they  are  right, 
the  history  of  life  on  earth  must  be  antedated,  and  carried  back  very 
far  in  time,  and  an  Eozoonic  age  be  recognized  between  the  Azoic 
and  Silurian. 

The  Paleozoic  period  was  the  age  of  Mollusks  or  shell-fish,  and  their 
fossil  remains  abound  in  the  limestones  of  the  Silurian  division.  The 
Devonian  sandstones  and  shales  contain  shells  and  the  fossil  remains 
of  vertebrate  fishes.  The  Carboniferous  division  of  the  Paleozoic  time 
has  no  place  in  the  geology  of  New  Jersey,  it  is  exceedingly  developed 
in  Pennsylvanian  coal  measures;  in  its  time  land  plants  flourished 
beyond  comparison;  these  fossil  plants  are  coal  at  present.  In  the 
Triassic,  the  Jurassic,  and  Cretaceous  divisions  of  the  Mesozoic  time 
there  was  an  enormous  development  of  Reptilian  life,  and  the  bones  of 
monster  reptiles  are  plentifully  found  as  fossils  in  the  rocks  of  those 
layers.  The  Mammals,  which  are  warm-blooded  quadrupeds,  appear 


I06  SCHEYICHBI  AXD    THE  STRAND. 

as  fossils  first  in  the  Tertiary  rocks  and  strata,  and  the  human  period, 
the  time  in  which  man  has  inhabited  the  earth,  is  included  in  the  Post 
Tertiary. 

The  divisions  of  the  Tertiary  formation  are  the  Eocene,  the  Miocene, 
the  Pliocene,  and  the  Post  Pliocene,  including  the  recent ;  in  New  Jersey 
it  constitutes  the  formation  of  the  territory  south  of  the  Cretaceous 
strata,  being  bounded  on  the  north  by  an  irregular  line  from  Shark 
River  to  Alloway's  Creek.  The  Recent  formation  lies  along  the  sea 
shore  and  the  banks  of  various  streams,  and  generally  includes  all  lands 
less  than  twelve  feet  above  the  level  of  the  tide. 

None  of  the  boundaries  of  the  Tertiary  fields  are  sharply  defined 
like  those  of  the  rocky  strata ;  the  drift  and  wash  has  intermixed  the 
materials  of  the  formation,  merging  the  outlines  of  the  various  beds 
and  layers.  Though  the  earthy  nature  of  the  Tertiary  formation  sub 
jects  its  surface  to  change  from  storms  and  streams,  by  which  the  beds 
are  mixed  together  or  discolored,  yet  the  mineral  substances  therein 
are  undisturbed  in  their  original  places  of  deposit  and  not  petrified, 
while  even  the  lowest  Tertiary  strata  contain  fossils  of  existing  species, 
proving  the  modern  origin  of  the  whole.  The  upper  marl  bed  is  in 
the  Eocene  division  of  the  Tertiary  formation,  and  is  the  lowest  layer 
of  its  stratification. 

In  a  well  bored  at  Winslow,  Camden  County,  New  Jersey,  there  was 
found  : 

First  5  feet  of  surface  earth. 

Then —   15  feet  blue  and  black  clay. 
95    "    glass  sand. 
35    "    miocene  clay. 
107    "    micaceous  sand. 
43    "    brown  clay. 
A  gum  log  one  foot  thick.  ( ! ) 
20  feet  green  sand,  marl,  white  shells,  teeth,  etc. 
15    "    pure  green  sand. 

At  which  point  water  rose  from  the  bottom  of  the  green  sand.  This 
gives  a  good  general  idea  of  the  structure  of  the  Tertiary  formation  in 
New  Jersey. 

Loamy  clay,  white  quartz  pebbles,  silicified  fossils,  feldspathic  rock, 
etc.,  intermixed  with  sand,  the  materials  of  the  drift,  overlie  the  other 
beds  unless  the  surface  has  been  washed  away.  This  drift  varies  much 
in  constituency  from  pure  clay  to  clean  sand ;  it  is  generally  reddish 
yellow  from  oxide  of  iron,  often  fertile  and  retentive  as  a  soil,  and 
makes  good  roads,  packing  into  a  solid,  smooth,  durable  bed,  even 
when  spread  over  loose  sand.  The  excellence  of  the  road-bed  of  the 
avenues  of  Sea  Grove  is  due  to  the  liberal  use  of  this  material  upon 
them. 

The  glass  sand  underlies  the  drift  gravel  to  the  depth  of  ninety-five 


FORMATION  OF  THE  STRAND. 


lO/ 


feet,  and  is  pure  white  quartzose  sand,  except  when  it  comes  to  the  surface 
or  at  the  bottom  of  the  bed  in  places,  then  it  is  sometimes  discolored. 
Its  use  in  glass-making  is  very  common  and  important,  and  this  sec 
tion,  from  which  much  glass  sand  is  now  shipped,  contains  enough  of 
this  valuable  material  to  supply  the  world  for  a  thousand  ages  !  The 
sandy  plains  of  South  Jersey  are  the  exposures  of  this  bed  of  sand 
where  the  drift  gravel  has  been  washed  away. 

The  Miocene  clays  and  marls  of  South  Jersey,  so  largely  and  suc 
cessfully  dug  as  fertilizers,  contain  numerous  fossils,  and  are  a  source 
of  wealth  as  well  as  a  matter  of  geologic  interest.  The  Micaceous 
sand,  one  hundred  and  seventeen  feet  deep,  found  in  the  well  at  Win- 
slow,  does  not  crop  out  at  the  surface  anywhere,  and  is  in  place  below 
the  sea-level.  The  same  is  true  of  the  brown  clay  found  as  described. 

Thus  the  layers  of  the  Tertiary  were  formed,  being  deposited  as 
drift  from  the  more  ancient  strata.  Mixed  with  the  Tertiary  layers,  or 
distributed  through  them,  may  be  found  constituents  of  all  the  older 
formations  in  the  State ;  thus  thrown  together,  they  have,  by  chemical 
action  and  reaction  upon  one  another,  entered  into  new  combinations 
and  produced  new  substances  ;  these  in  turn,  with  all  the  rest,  sub 
jected  for  thousands  of  years  to  the  play  of  elementary  forces,  have 
been  variously  manipulated  and  chemicalized  continually,  while  all  the 
time  impelled  by  the  floods  and  streams  toward  the  sea,  along  whose 
shallow  margin  they  have  been  deposited,  forming  in  "  Recent"  ages 
still  another  new  shore  to  the  ceaseless  waves. 

§  As  the  Tertiary  formation  is  marked  by  drift  and  earthy  deposit, 
so  alluvium  characterizes  its  Recent  division.  In  the  Tertiary  we  find 
clay,  sand,  gravel,  loose  pebbles,  and  some  boulders,  most  of  which  are 
from  distant  strata;  the  beds  of  the  Recent  are  made  up  of  finer 
sands  and  clays,  loams,  mud,  peat,  etc.,  derived  from  adjacent  deposits 
or  the  remains  of  vegetable  production.  The  fossils  of  the  Recent  are 
all  identical  with  existing  species  ;  among  them  human  remains  and 
relics  are  frequent.  The  Recent  formation  in  New  Jersey  borders  the 
Atlantic  from  Sandy  Hook  to  Cape  May,  and  forms  the  shore  of  Del 
aware  Bay  up  to  Salem,  also  the  banks  of  some  of  the  rivers  and 
creeks.  The  sand  beaches,  the  marshes,  the  cedar  swamps,  and  an  in 
definite  amount  of  upland  border  in  the  State  are  recognized  as  being 
included  in  this  formation,  and  are  in  process  of  formation  and  change. 
The  general  surface  soil  of  the  upland  border  is  a  fine  sandy  loam  with 
but  little  gravel,  and  contains  organic  matter  enough  to  render  it  pro 
ductive  and  fertile  ground.  An  example  of  such  border  land  is  to  be 
seen  adjoining  Sea  Grove,  and  forms  the  Stites  farm.  The  farm  has 
been  for  some  time  occupied  by  the  Hon.  Downes  Edmunds,  and  has 
been  worked  in  places  constantly  and  successfully  for  a  hundred  or 
more  years  without  any  manure  or  dressing  whatever,  and  yet  has  not 
been  at  all  impoverished.  The  land  thus  cultivated  is  so  full  of  shells 


108  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

in  spots  as  to  make  ploughing  difficult;  the  sub-soil  is  a  deep,  black, 
sandy  mould. 

The  tide  marshes  of  the  Recent  formation  of  New  Jersey  are  a  re 
markable  feature;  there  are  about  three  hundred  thousand  acres  of 
such  marshes  in  the  State,  and  Cape  May  County  alone,  with  a  total 
area  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  acres,  has  fifty-eight  thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-four  acres 
of  tide  marsh,  including  ten  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty-three 
acres  of  sounds,  bays,  inlets,  etc.  The  marshes  are  but  little  above 
ordinary  tide  level,  and  covered  with  grass,  reeds,  and  coarse  sedge, 
but  treeless.  Beneath  the  surface  of  the  marsh  there  is  from  a  yard 
to  forty  feet  of  mud  or  soft  earth,  with  an  average  depth  of  twenty  feet. 
The  marsh  is  deepest  back  from  the  beach  and  from  the  banks  of 
streams,  water-courses,  etc.  The  body  of  the  marsh  is  merely  a  bed 
of  fibrous  roots;  near  the  beach,  sand  is  intermixed  with  the  roots,  and 
along  the  streams  and  water-courses  mud  has  been  deposited,  and  is 
retained  among  them. 

The  marshes  enlarge  by  encroachment  in  places  upon  the  wooded 
upland,  and  by  growing  into  the  sounds  and  waters  they  enclose  ;  at 
the  same  time  the  sea  and  bay  have  during  the  last  century  cut  away 
many  acres  of  the  marshes,  which  have  become  exposed  to  the  waves 
by  the  demolition  and  shifting  of  the  sand  dunes  and  beaches.  The 
surface  of  the  marsh,  when  enclosed  by  beaches,  or  by  the  clayey  banks 
of  streams,  sinks  slowly,  by  the  decay  and  compression  of  the  fibrous 
mass  of  which  it  is  mostly  composed.  The  wash  of  streams  and  the 
drift  of  the  sea  sand  landward  tends  to  solidify  the  marsh,  as  vege 
table  growth  and  deposit  elevates  the  surface;  however,  shutting  the 
water  off  from  a  true  marsh  causes  it  to  sink,  as  it  is  really  afloat, 
in  and  through  the  water,  and  it  is  so  unsubstantial  that  many  cubic  feet 
of  it  when  burned  make  but  a  very  small  quantity  of  ashes  ;  the  marsh 
is,  in  fact,  a  sound  or  cove  choked  full  of  fibrous  roots  and  vegetable 
deposit.  Many  hundreds  of  acres  of  that  which  was  cedar  swamp  is 
now  salt  or  tide  marsh  ;  the  trees  having  been  killed  by  the  encroach 
ment  of  the  sea  water,  have  fallen,  and  are  now  buried,  but  undecayed, 
in  the  deep  mud,  the  surface  growth  flourishing  evenly  above  them. 

§  In  treating  of  the  Cretaceous  formation,  on  a  former  page,  it  was 
stated  that  alternate  elevations  and  depressions  of  the  shore  line  had 
taken  place,  until  finally,  before  the  drift  period,  the  surface  of  the 
whole  formation  was  lifted  several  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  from 
which  it  has  been  degraded  by  denudation  and  drift  down  to  its 
present  level  and  configuration.  It  can  be  readily  and  definitely  shown 
that  similar  but  less  extensive  fluctuations  have  taken  place  in  the 
Tertiary  and  Recent  formations  and  are  now  operative  along  the  present 
shores.  How  far  inland  the  action  may  reach,  or  in  what  degree  affect 
the  interior,  is  more  difficult  to  decide. 


ALTITUDE   OF  CAPE  MAY  COUNTY.  IO9 

In  various  elevated  positions  in  the  Recent  formation  marine  shells 
of  the  common  species,  or  casts  of  them,  are  to  be  seen  in  their  natural 
attitude;  on  the  banks  of  Maurice  River,  at  Tuckahoe,  and  elsewhere 
along  shore,  they  lie  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  above  high-water  mark, 
and  indicate  an  elevation  before  the  depression  now  going  on;  and  as 
the  amount  of  subsidence  at  present  is  about  seventeen  feet  on  an 
average,  as  estimated  by  measurement  from  tide  level  to  the  lowest 
points  where  buried  and  submerged  trees  are  found  in  the  places  in 
which  they  grew,  the  former  elevation  must  have  raised  the  surface 
from  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet. 

The  highest  land  of  Cape  May  County  is  but  about  forty  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  and  that  only  at  a  few  points  of  very  limited  extent, 
the  average  elevation  being  but  eleven  feet;  so  that  when  the  shells 
now  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  above  tide  mark  were  at  the  level  in 
which  they  grew,  the  greater  part  of  Cape  May  County  must  have 
been  submerged.  The  last  elevation  carried  the  shore  line  at  least 
seventeen  feet  above  where  it  now  is. 

The  operations  of  the  Sea  Grove  Association  in  clearing  and  grading 
the  remarkable  sea-side  resort  they  have  so  well  begun,  have  obliterated 
some  of  the  most  interesting  and  characteristic  traces  of  geologic  action 
to  be  found  in  the  State.  Between  the  gateway  of  Sea  Grove  and  the 
bay,  and  lying  along  the  shore,  were  formerly  a  number  of  well- 
defined  parallel  ridges  of  drift  sand.  These  were  the  evidence  of  a 
former  uprising  of  the  shore,  and  of  the  consequent  receding  of  the 
water  of  the  sea,  which  must  have  washed  the  gravel  bank  or  fast 
land  ;  the  ridges  were  created,  one  behind  another,  by  the  wind,  which, 
blowing  across  the  ancient  strand,  would  raise  the  innermost  ridge 
first,  and  then,  as  the  shore  widened  toward  the  sea,  another  between 
it  and  the  water,  and  so  on. 

The  beach  ridges,  having  been  formed  long  since,  were  covered  with 
a  heavy  growth  of  black  oak  timber,  which  has  been  in  part  removed 
by  the  Sea  Grove  improvements  ;  the  parallel  ridges  have  ceased  to 
advance  seaward,  but  Mr.  Alexander  Whilldin,  a  close  observer,  affirms 
that  at  present  Cape  May  Point  is  growing  out  into  Delaware  Bay,  by 
the  deposition  of  sand  upon  it  from  the  ocean  front,  and  by  the  action 
of  the  wind  piling  up  dunes  or  sand-hillocks. 

Almost  entirely  along  the  shore  of  New  Jersey,  the  main  or  "  fast 
land"  is  separated  from  the  sea  by  salt  marshes  of  three  miles  or 
less  in  width;  outside  of  these,  next  the  sea,  occurs  a  row  of  long, 
narrow,  somewhat  elevated,  and  more  or  less  wooded  islands,  or 
"beaches."  These  are  the  Old  beaches;  they  are  more  ancient  than 
the  marsh,  and  are  supposed  to  have  been  formed  during  a  former 
period  of  depression.  The  waves  beating  upon  a  friable  shore  of  earth 
and  sand,  such  as  then  existed,  would  wear  a  channel  next  the  shore, 
and  pile  up  a  shoal  outside  the  surf;  a  series  of  such  shoals  would 

8 


IIO  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

thus  be  formed  parallel  to  one  another,  and  when  the  next  elevation 
occurred  they  would  appear  above  water,  and  form  the  basis  of  the 
present  beaches.  Shrubs  and  trees  would  soon  grow  upon  these 
ridges,  saving  them  from  drifting  away,  and  causing  them  to  retain 
all  the  sand  the  wind  blew  from  the  strand  upon  them.  The  lower 
grounds  between  the  ridges  would  finally  rise  above  water,  and  pres 
ently  become  covered  with  vegetation,  until  a  subsequent  depression 
again  carried  them  below  tide  level,  when  they  would  become  salt 
marshes,  filling  with  mud  by  the  action  of  the  tides,  and  keeping  their 
surface  at  high-water  mark,  by  the  growth  of  peat,  just  as  one  hun 
dred  and  seventy-eight  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-wo  acres 
of  such  formation,  lying  all  the  way  from  Long  Branch  southward 
along  the  shore  to  Cape  May,  are  now  doing. 

Fresh  marshes  form  in  the  broad  shallow  valleys  of  the  slow- 
moving  rivers  and  creeks  of  South  Jersey;  as  at  Tuckahoe,  and  on 
Great  Egg  Harbor  Rivers.  The  salt  marshes  on  Delaware  Bay  shore 
have  been  formed  as  fresh  marshes  in  the  valleys  of  the  streams  which 
flow  through  them  to  the  bay,  and  are  supposed  to  have  had  beaches 
between  them  and  the  bay,  which  have  gradually  been  washed  away; 
in  the  same  way  a  large  portion  of  the  marsh  itself  has  gone. 

§  The  landward  beaches  which  join  the  marsh  are  developed  in  long, 
parallel  lines,  and,  where  the  timber  has  not  been  removed,  are  covered 
with  a  very  old  growth  of  it ;  the  open  spaces  in  the  depressions 
between  the  beaches  are  called  savannas ;  in  wet  seasons  they  are 
saturated  or  more  or  less  covered  and  filled  with  fresh  water;  they 
are  then  called  slashes,  and  are  the  haunts  of  numerous  water-fowl 
and  game-birds,  which  makes  them  favorite  resorts  of  discriminating 
sportsmen. 

The  Old  beach  ridges  are  not  over  a  rod  in  width,  and  not  more 
than  five  or  six  feet  high;  yet  they,  with  the  savannas  beside  them, 
may  be  a  mile  or  two  long.  The  Old  beaches  contain  a  small  portion 
of  clay  with  their  sand,  which  partly  saves  them  from  drifting  with 
the  wind,  and  promotes  the  growth  of  the  timber.  The  Old  beach 
varies  in  height,  increasing  in  elevation  toward  the  sea ;  part  of  the 
low  landward  ridges  have  become  submerged,  and  yet  can  be  traced 
in  places  by  the  lines  of  dead  trees  standing  in  the  marsh. 

At  Sea  Grove  the  marsh  disappears  from  the  Delaware  Bay  front, 
and  the  Old  beach  has  formed  back  directly  over  the  marsh  or  against 
and  upon  the  upland.  Lily  Pond,  or  Lake  Lily  as  it  is  now  called, 
occupies  the  place  of  what  might  be  a  marsh,  and  yet  is  a  fresh-water 
pond,  from  which  water  was  formerly  taken  for  shipping. 

The  water  of  Lake  Lily  had  connection  with  the  sea  by  a  water-course 
which  ran  from  the  shoreward  end  of  the  lake,  between  the  strand  and 
the  lighthouse,  and  along  the  foot  of  the  upland,  to  the  west  of  Cape 
Island,  and  so  into  Skillinger's  Creek  and  under  the  bridge  to  Cape  Island 


DESCRIPTION  OF  LAKE  LILY.  Iir 

Sound,  and  out  by  Cold  Spring  Inlet  to  the  Atlantic.  Now  the  sand 
drift  has  filled  and  covered  the  water-course  near  the  lighthouse,  and 
the  Sea  Grove  Association  have  obliterated  the  natural  features  of  the 
lake.  In  their  zeal  for  improvement  they  have  detracted  very  much 
from  the  scientific  interest  and  value  of  the  original  pond,  which  is  less 
to  be  regretted  however,  as  there  are  enough  indications  all  around  of 
the  same  purport,  and  the  engineers,  by  grading  the  shore  of  the  pond 
to  a  fine  drive,  putting  up  ornate  boat-houses,  etc.,  have  succeeded  in 
making  a  very  pretty  miniature  lake  of  what  was  a  somewhat  unsightly 
even  if  pure  and  interesting  sheet  of  fresh  water. 

Since  its  improvement  as  above  stated,  Lake  Lily  has  become  one 
of  the  attractions  of  attractive  Sea  Grove,  and  is  a  great  addition  to  the 
pleasure  of  visitors.  When  the  water-course  referred  to  was  open,  it 
was  not  very  uncommon  for  the  sea,  in  storms,  to  throw  its  waters  across 
the  beach  into  it,  making  the  waters  of  the  lake  brackish;  but  now  the 
natural  and  artificial  filling  in  of  the  southern  end  of  the  water-course 
and  the  lake  prevents  such  an  occurrence,  so  the  lake  has  been  care 
fully  cleaned  out,  and  stocked  with  valuable  fish.  The  waters  of  Lake 
Lily  are  solely  from  the  rainfall ;  they  percolate  slowly  down  and  out 
from  the  bed  of  the  lake,  displacing  the  salt  water  which  infiltrates  the 
sand,  yet  not  mixing  much  with  it.  Similar  effects  are  produced 
among  all  the  beaches.  The  different  gravity  of  salt  and  fresh  water  has 
an  influence  upon  the  phenomena ;  the  fresh  water  being  lightest,  remains 
at  the  surface,  and  can  be  obtained  by  digging  a  few  inches  beneath  the 
sand,  anywhere  between  the  beach  ridges.  Lake  Lily  is  the  only  simi 
lar  body  of  water  on  the  Cape  below  Cold  Spring. 

§  The  Recent  formation  of  New  Jersey,  especially  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  State,  is  noted  for  extensive  swamps  and  marshes.  Those 
of  the  interior  are  heavily  wooded,  but  none  of  them  are  much  above 
tide  level ;  the  more  elevated  and  solid  are  "timber  swamps,"  and  not 
only  furnish  good  and  desirable  lumber,  but  might  in  many  cases  be 
improved  by  clearing  and  culture,  and  thus  make  valuable  farms.  It 
seems  remarkable  more  has  not  been  done  for  the  agricultural  develop 
ment  of  the  interior  of  South  Jersey,  but  the  original  settlers  looked 
to  the  sea  for  their  highway,  and  to  a  great  degree  for  their  harvest  too; 
for  which  reason  they  made  their  homes  along  the  upland  of  the  shore. 

Of  late,  through  the  enterprise  of  several  parties,  notably  that  of 
Charles  K.  Landis,  of  Vineland,  the  interior  of  the  State  has  been 
better  appreciated,  and,  being  extensively  and  judiciously  advertised, 
has  attracted  many  intelligent  and  industrious  settlers,  who  have  suc 
cessfully  planted  many  fine  vineyards,  orchards,  and  farms. 

The  cedar  swamps,  which  are  extensive  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers 
and  around  their  sources,  are  overflowed,  not  stable  land  like  the  timber 
swamps  ;  the  White  Cedar  (the  Cupressus  tlutyoides  of  the  botanical 
nomenclature),  which  holds  exclusive  possession  of  them,  flourishes 


II2  SCHEYICHBI  AND   THE  STRAND. 

only  in  submerged  or  saturated  soils.  In  many  places  in  South  Jersey 
it  grows  in  a  peaty  stratum,  where  there  is  neither  clay,  gravel,  loam 
or  mud,  but  only  a  compact  mass  of  fibrous  roots,  and  the  debris  of  its 
own  fallen  growth.  In  such  localities,  as  well  as  where  more  substan 
tial  components  partly  form  a  true  soil,  the  white  cedar  grows  densely, 
and  in  its  young  growth  rapidly;  afterwards  it  becomes  crowded,  and 
grows  tall,  but  increases  more  slowly  in  diameter. 

The  vegetable  remains  which  fall  from  the  swamp  trees  into  the 
wet  mass  are  shaded  from  the  sun  by  the  evergreen  foliage,  and  thus 
kept  cool  and  saved  from  rapid  decomposition.  Settling  gradually 
down,  they  become  submerged  and  then  buried,  from  which  time  their 
decay  is  almost  imperceptible.  In  this  way  the  surface  of  the  swamp 
is  gradually  elevated  ;  a  layer  of  more  than  a  foot  thick  has  thus  been 
formed  in  sixty  years. 

The  original  growth  of  cedars  were  sometimes  seven  feet  or  more  in 
diameter,  and  immensely  high  ;  the  average  size  of  the  full-grown  trees, 
however,  was  but  about  two  feet  and  six  inches.  There  are  none  of  these 
great  trees  left,  and  as  the  whole  area  of  Cedar  Swamp  is  cut  over 
every  second  generation,  or  every  sixty  years,  a  living  cedar  tree  a 
hundred  years  old  is  now  a  rare  specimen;  still,  the  natural  term  of 
the  tree  is  a  lifetime  of  successive  centuries.  Various  parties  have 
counted  the  annual  rings  in  the  logs  and  stumps  of  cedars,  and  various 
witnesses  affirm  the  existence  of  from  five  hundred  to  over  a  thousand 
of  them  in  a  single  specimen.  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  F.R.S.,  quoting  a 
newspaper  article  of  Dr.  Beesley,  of  Dennisville,  says  (Second  Visit  to 
United  States,  vol.  i.  page  34)  that  "  Dr.  Beesley,  of  Dennis  Creek 
counted  1080  rings  of  annual  growth,  between  the  centre  and  outside 
of  a  large  stump  six  feet  in  diameter;"  this  grew  atop  of  a  previously 
fallen  trce^  which  was  half  as  old  ;  thus  fifteen  centuries  were  registered 
in  a  couple  of  logs  on  the  surface  of  a  swamp,  which  has  been  sounded 
in  places  from  eight  to  ten  or  even  eleven  or  more  feet  deep,  and  is///// 
of  fallen  logs  to  the  very  bottom. 

The  white  cedar,  though  a  very  tall,  slim  tree,  sends  no  roots  down 
into  the  firm  soil  underneath  the  swamp,  but  spreads  them  laterally  in 
the  shallow,  soft,  black,  peaty,  wet  earth  which  is  its  congenial  place 
of  growth.  The  timber  standing  in  a  natural  ancient  cedar  swamp  is 
but  a  fraction  of  the  quantity  which  has  fallen  and  become  subterranean. 
The  living  timber  thus  buried  is  apparently  indestructible,  and  has 
been  mined  from  its  place  of  deposit  buoyant  and  sound,  and  used  for 
the  best  quality  of  lumber,  many  hundreds  and  perhaps  thousands  of 
years  after  it  had  grown.  This  mining  of  timber  has  been  carried  on 
as  a  regular  business  in  the  swamps  about  Dennisville;  between  nine 
and  ten  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  shingles,  at  fifteen  dollars  a  thousand, 
have  been  manufactured  in  a  year  from  logs  thus  exhumed.  The  pro 
duction  of  shingles  did  not  consume  all  the  timber  taken,  as  a  part  of 


CEDAR  MINES  AT  CAPE  MAY.  n^ 

it  was  large,  fine  logs,  more  valuable  for  boards,  into  which  it  was  sawn. 
More  than  forty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  cedar  rails  and  lumber  are 
produced  by  these  cedar  swamps  every  year,  and  an  acre  of  good 
swamp,  fifty  years  in  growth,  is  worth  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand 
dollars.  The  cedars  are  mined  not  alone  in  the  growing  swamps,  but 
in  meadows  where  only  stumps  and  dead  roots  break  the  surface,  and 
in  places  where  a  smooth  turf  entirely  hides  all  traces  of  wood  from 
surface  observation,  as  well  in  a  part  of  the  tide  marshes,  which  were 
once  cedar  swamps,  but  where  the  growth  of  timber  has  been  stopped 
by  the  encroachments  of  salt  water  in  consequence  of  the  subsidence 
of  the  swamps  along  the  shore.  Of  course  many  of  the  buried  trees 
are  unfit  for  use.  Those  which  grew  when  the  swamp  was  shallow  and 
the  roots  of  the  trees  touched  the  gravel  bottom,  are  so  gnarly  as  to  be 
unfit  for  splitting.  Some  of  the  trees  fell  only  from  extreme  age, 
deadness,  and  partial  decay:  these  are  worthless;  some  were  prostrated 
and  grew  long  after  they  fell :  these  are  hard  and  boxy  on  one  side, 
hence  undesirable.  The  trees  wanted  by  the  miners  are  those  not  of 
the  bottom  layer,  which  were  broken  down  by  the  wind  or  otherwise, 
and  buried  at  the  perfection  of  their  growth. 

The  first  tool  of  the  miner  is  an  iron  sounding-rod;  with  this  he 
probes  the  mud  of  the  swamp,  finding  often  that  the  logs  lie  so  thickly 
across  one  another  beneath  the  surface  that  it  is  only  after  repeated 
efforts  that  he  can  pass  his  rod  among  them.  The  miner  judges  of  the 
value  of  the  log  he  comes  in  contact  with  after  examination  with  his 
probe,  by  signs  known  to  an  expert  only;  he  feels  out  the  size,  shape, 
and  position  of  it,  and  judges  of  the  work  required  to  secure  it;  he  cuts 
down  to  the  log  through  the  peat  with  a  sharp  spade,  and  manages  to 
get  a  chip  from  it;  by  smelling  of  this  chip  he  can  tell  whether  he  is 
dealing  with  a  windfall  or  a  breakdown,  the  latter  being  most  likely  to 
be  sound  lumber.  Removing  the  peat,  mud,  roots,  and  rubbish-timber 
as  far  as  necessary,  the  miner  then  saws  off  the  log  at  the  ends,  his 
saw  working  without  injury,  the  soil  being  free  from  grit.  The  log 
may  be  thirty  feet  long,  but  is  generally  shorter.  Having  sawn  the 
log  off,  the  miner  uses  levers  to  loosen  it  from  its  place  and  to  throw 
off  superincumbent  timber;  this  being  done,  the  log  floats  upward 
with  perfect  buoyance;  the  under  side  being  most  buoyant,  the  log,  as 
it  floats  free,  always  turns  over.  The  logs  for  shingles  are  sawn  into 
bolts  or  blocks,  and  rived  and  shaved  into  shingles  on  the  ground. 
The  ground  is  gone  over  again  and  again  with  success  by  the  miners, 
as  the  logs,  once  disturbed,  continually  work  toward  the  surface. 

An  inch  of  vegetable  matter  is  deposited  by  the  fall  of  foliage,  twigs, 
etc.,  upon  the  surface  of  a  cedar  swamp  in  about  five  years,  but  as  this 
fresh  layer  is  itself  buried  it  partly  decays  and  diminishes  in  bulk  pro 
gressively  very  much  by  compression  and  other  causes,  so  that  no  clue 
can  be  had  from  it  as  to  the  age  of  these  remarkable  swamps.  Such  a 


114  SCHEY1CHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

clue  is  found,  however,  in  the  buried  cedars,  which  by  annular  rings 
tell,  like  a  calendar,  their  own  individual  age,  and  by  their  relative 
positions  demonstrate  the  successive  generations  of  growth  which 
must  have  taken  place,  before  they  could  have  appeared  where  they 
were  left  centuries  since,  superimposed  and  grown,  one  above  another, 
in  many  layers. 

The  attempt  to  estimate  the  age  chronicled  by  interwoven  logs  is 
confusing,  but  the  certainty  of  thousands  of  years  is  evident,  and  even 
ten  or  twelve  generations  of  such  trees  as  Dr.  Beesley  examined  may 
have  grown  and  died  since  the  oldest  swamp  began;  and  yet  the  age 
thus  recorded  is  occupied  by  the  most  modern  layer  of  a  formation 
which  is,  in  all  and  at  the  oldest,  but  the  very  latest  evolvement  of  the 
most  extremely  short  and  insignificant  of  all  the  geologic  periods. 

If  the  record  of  ten  thousand  years  can  be  preserved  in  mud  and 
perishable  wood,  what  is  the  chronology  of  the  cycle  in  which  obdu 
rate  gneiss  and  granite  grows  and  disintegrates,  crumbles  and  is 
recomposed  of  the  old  material,  again  and  again,  until  the  Azoic  rocks 
develop  into  mineral  wealth  and  fertile  alluvium,  tower  into  forests, 
bloom  into  flowers,  ripen  into  golden  harvests,  nourish  the  beasts  and 
birds,  redden  the  blood  of  the  animal  world,  and  give  strength  and 
vigor  to  the  body  of  man;  the  fitting  tabenacle  of  the  immortal  soul? 

§  Outside  the  Old  beach,  and  immediately  next  the  strand,  are  found 
irregular  hillocks  of  shifting  sand  of  various  elevations,  but  all  less 
than  forty  feet  high.  They  are  composed  almost  exclusively  of  fine 
white  quartzose  sand  without  clay  or  metallic  admixture;  some  few 
fragments  or  particles  of  shell  can  be  found,  but  the  mass  of  the  beach 
is  almost  absolutely  pure  quartz. 

Red  cedar  trees,  of  which  many  are  dead,  are  scattered  among  the 
hillocks,  and  are  often  found  buried  to  the  tops  where  the  constantly 
shifting  sands  have  drifted  upon  them.  These  hillocks,  downs,  or 
dunes,  are  denominated  the  Little  or  Young  Beach;  the  method  by 
which  they  originate  is  obvious. 

Shoal  shores  at  ebb  of  tide  are  exposed  in  wide  strands,  which 
rapidly  dry  under  the  influence  of  the  sun  and  wind.  Where  a  wide 
sandy  strand  is  thus  left  bare,  the  wind  sweeps  the  fine  sand  before  it 
upon  the  beach  and  beyond  the  reach  of  the  returning  tide,  and  then 
deposits  it  in  the  forms  described  as  characteristic  of  the  Young  Beach. 
The  sea  washes  up  additional  sand,  which  takes  the  place  of  that  taken 
off  by  the  wind,  and  so  the  process  continues  which,  though  counter 
acted  by  various  agencies,  has  built  up  thousands  of  acres  of  Young 
Beach  in  the  State. 

The  continuity  of  the  beaches  on  the  sea  front  is  broken  by  a  series 
of  inlets,  through  which  the  waters  of  the  ocean  flow  into  a  number  of 
bays  or  sounds  which  lie  behind  the  beaches  or  within  the  marshes, 
and,  communicating  with  one  another  by  inside  channels  or  thorough- 


PHENOMENA    OF  THE  INLETS.  H5 

fares,  make  an  available  still-water  navigation  for  a  hundred  miles  north 
ward  from  Cape  Island  to  the  head  of  Barnegat  Bay.  These  bodies  of 
water  are  from  five  to  six  miles  across  in  several  places,  though  not  on 
an  average  more  than  one-third  as  wide,  having,  according  to  survey 
and  careful  estimate,  an  area  of  but  one  hundred  and  seventeen  thou 
sand  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  acres,  excluding  the  Raritan  Bay  and 
adjoining  waters. 

The  most  of  the  inlets  themselves  are  narrow,  and,  although  the  tides 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Sea  Grove  and  along  shore  rise  but  from  a 
little  above  four  feet  in  the  neap  tides  to  six  feet  in  the  spring  tides, 
yet  the  capacity  of  the  sounds  and  their  adjuncts  is  so  great  compara 
tively  that  the  sea  ebbs  and  flows  through  the  inlets  with  considerable 
force,  especially  when  heavy  seas  run  with  the  incoming  tides.  In 
consequence,  the  bays  and  sounds  are  constantly  invaded  by  silt  and 
sand,  which,  being  caught  by  the  abundant  growth  of  grassy  marsh 
roots  along  their  margins,  is  retained  and  consolidated  in  quantities 
and  to  a  degree  which  has  much  decreased  the  area  and  depth  of  those 
remarkable  waters. 

The  outgoing  tide  of  the  sounds  cuts  away  the  banks  of  the  inlet 
and  the  adjoining  shores,  throwing  the  sand  out  upon  the  bars,  from 
whence  the  shore  currents  and  waves  convey  it  along  the  strand  ;  in 
this  way  shoals  are  added  to  the  southwest  of  the  beaches  which  crowd 
the  inlets  to  the  south,  against  the  northeast  and  highest  ends  of  the 
beaches  ;  presently  a  new  inlet  forces  its  way  during  a  storm  across  the 
beach  to  the  northwest  of  the  old  one,  which  may  be  closed  up  at  the 
same  time.  The  new  inlet  is  then  subjected  to  the  same  action  as  the 
other  one,  and  with  like  results  ;  in  this  way  the  inlet  is  continually 
shifted,  wearing  its  way  to  the  southward  for  a  mile  or  more  at  an  un 
certain  rate,  and  then  forcing  its  way  as  may  be  back  again  to  its  ex 
treme  position  toward  the  north. 

Northeast  of  Barnegat,  the  inlets  move  in  an  opposite  manner  to  the 
one  described  as  peculiar  to  those  south  of  that  place.  The  movement 
of  the  sands  along  the  New  Jersey  ocean  shore  is  immense,  and  due  to 
causes  operating  on  a  vast  scale  in  prolonged  time.  These  causes  are 
not  fully  understood,  nor  is  the  scope  of  their  operation  fully  deter 
mined.  The  theory  of  the  subsidence  itself — which,  conceding  a  de 
pression  of  one-fourth  of  an  inch  per  annum,  would  submerge  half  or 
more  of  Cape  May  County  in  five  hundred  and  twenty-eight  years — has, 
notwithstanding  the  facts  presumed  to  demonstrate  it,  been  strenuously 
disputed  by  official  geologists. 

However  confident  of  a  conclusion  we  may  feel  to  be  on  the  basis 
of  facts  in  our  possession,  true"  courage  of  opinion  is  not  obstinate,  and 
a  partial  suspense  of  judgment  leaves  room  for  hospitality  to  the  result 
of  enlarged  observation,  maturer  experience,  and  more  deliberate  com 
parison  and  reflection.  Galileo  was  certain  the  world  moved,  and  it  is 


Il6  SCHEYICHBI  AND    THE  STRAND. 

equally  certain  the  sands  shift.  They  are  carried  away  from  one  point 
or  another  it  may  be,  but  are  deposited  as  well  in  another  place  ;  shoals 
are  created  thus,  and  currents  changed,  changes  of  current  bring  change 
of  drift,  and  so  the  transported  sands  may  be  shifted  back  again.  Only 
long-continued  observation  can  establish  the  fact  of  a  persistent  ten 
dency,  and  still  more  care  must  be  taken  to  verify  the  rate  and  extent 
of  a  movement,  the  evolution  of  which  is  completed  only  in  centuries 
and  ages  of  time. 

§  Beside  the  quartzose  sand  composing  the  beaches  along  the  ocean 
front  of  New  Jersey,  there  are  an  abundance  of  various  kinds  of  peb 
bles  washed  up  from  the  sea.  They  are  of  small  size,  and  every  year 
a  great  quantity  of  them  are  conveyed  to  Philadelphia,  and  used  in 
roofing  buildings  and  for  other  purposes.  Quartz  is  exceedingly  abun 
dant  in  South  Jersey  ;  the  young  beach  is  pure  quartz  sand,  the  old 
beach  has  but  a  very  small  percentage  of  clay,  and  the  plains  or  bar 
rens  of  Burlington  and  Ocean  Counties  have  from  ninety  to  ninety- 
eight  per  cent,  of  quartz  in  their  soil.  Pebbles  of  pure,  transparent 
quartz  abound  in  the  gravel  beds  and  at  the  shore  of  Sea  Grove  and 
Cape  May;  being  washed  clean  and  bright  in  the  waves,  they  are  often 
collected  by  bathing  parties  and  other  visitors,  under  the  name  of 
Cape  May  Diamonds.  If  the  collectors  have  not  gained  great  wealth 
in  their  gems,  they  have  often  found  the  treasure  of  health  in  their 
recreative  amusements,  and  some  of  the  pebbles,  when  well  polished 
and  set  in  gold,  form  handsome  mementos  of  pleasant  summer  excur 
sions  and  peaceful  days  beside  the  surf  upon  the  sandy  shore,  as  well 
as  characteristic  specimens  of  a  remarkable  geologic  formation. 

Geologic  research  has,  in  caves,  in  mines,  in  tunnels,  and  other  en 
gineering  excavations  of  submarine  nature,  been  conducted  under  the 
sea  with  interesting  and  important  results,  but  the  present  study  may 
end  properly  and  appropriately  upon  the  strand  of  the  open  ocean,  the 
type  of  the  unfathomable  and  infinite.  Divesting  ourselves  of  fear,  of 
conceit,  of  prejudice,  of  pride;  alone  with  the  sand,  the  waves,  the 
wind,  and  the  breeze — the  simplicity  and  grandeur  of  nature,  our  eyes 
become  more  clear,  the  reasoning  soul  sweeping  with  one  flashing  and 
intuitive  glance  the  old  levels  and  horizons,  sees  over  sea  and  land  a 
light  not  born  of  either,  yet  luminous  as  heaven,  "  which  lighteth  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  world,"  revealing  even  in  geologic  ruins  the 
love  and  glory  of  Our  Father,  and  lighting  the  way  to  peace,  righteous 
ness,  progress,  and  eternal  happiness  ! 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
FORM  NO.  DD6,60m,  1/83          BERKELEY,  CA  94720 


i 


•MMMW 


